India lost a golden opportunity to seal the series against England in the second ODI at Lord’s when their batters let them down once again losing the game by a huge margin of 100 runs.
Indian batsmen have been guilty in the past too and their top order has failed time and again. Be it the Champions Trophy finals against Pakistan in 2017 when Mohammed Aamir ripped through the top order or the Manchester World Cup semi-finals in 2019 when chasing a relative low target of 240, India 5/3 and were then were chasing the game and eventually lost the game despite being favorites.
And the second ODI did not have the pressure of a big game, just a bi-lateral series to seal but the batters choked again and players like Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant let the team down because of poor technique and shot selection. Yes, the conditions were tough but India had to see off the new ball where both the left armers were getting a lot of swing - but the batsman failed to do so. They looked in a confused state of mind and India blew away a golden chance to seal the series.
It’s high time India batsman get this problem solved as the World Cup is just a year away and if they keep repeating the same mistakes, they might regret and lose the opportunity to win the World Cup at home.
- Cricket enthusiast Anis Sajan is the Vice Chairman of Danube Group
