Indore Test highlighted how Indian team has being struggling to get consistent performances from their top-order batters. KL Rahul was dropped after a string of low scores and replaced by Shubman Gill to partner captain Rohit Sharma as an opener for the third Test but the problem persists.
Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Shreyas Iyer have also not being able to perform at the level they are known for. Time and again, it’s the lower order that has bailed India out but it too failed in Indore resulting in a nine-wicket thrashing.
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Dinesh Karthik says while the pitches for the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy aren’t easy to bat on, the Indian team should have been prepared considering they knew what was coming.
“We cannot hide from the fact that India’s top seven (batters) haven’t got the scores that they would like. We are talking about consistent collapses. Is batting difficult on this pitch? Most definitely. But as a team they have chosen to play on these pitches which means they need to back themselves on them. They are capable of it, a lot of the players in isolation have probably played on tougher pitches and succeeded but playing international cricket is a different ball game,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
“When you get out a couple of times there are so many doubts that come, the confidence gets low. And then, to go out there and still back yourself just to play those big shots to get away from pressure can be really hard. I completely empathise with the Indian batters. It is hard work but that’s what Test cricket is,” he added.
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Karthik who is doing commentary duties in the ongoing Test series, pointed out how Indian batters have also found facing spinners a challenging prospect and the defeat has made it clear what’s troubling them.
“They (India) will accept that a large part of it has been camouflaged by two things – the lower order contributions and the fact that India have won both those matches. If you rewind and go to the Bangladesh series, there also they struggled against spinners but it was camouflaged by India winning those matches and the lower order contributions. But when you lose a match, it is glaringly obvious, it is right in your face and people will speak about it and they are right in doing it. It has happened consistently over a period of time and the question will arise, how is it that team India is consistently backing these players but they are not producing the scores that is required,” Karthik said.
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