London: Former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara feels it is unfair to label India as over-dependent on Virat Kohli and attributes the team’s debacle in the first two Tests against England to lack of preparation.
England won the first two of the five Tests in Birmingham and Lord’s, with a worrying point about India’s batting being that Kohli was the only batsman to score any runs of substance.
“It is almost unfair to the other batsmen because we have seen Virat batting like he has for the last few years. It is incredible to watch and he is an incredible performer, but others are also fantastic players,” Sangakkara said.
“Pujara and Rahane are absolutely great batsmen. Pujara averages 50 in Test cricket, Rahane averages 50 overseas. Then, there are others. KL Rahul looks brilliant [when in form], Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik these are no insignificant names.”
India played a lone warm-up match before the Test series, and that too was overshadowed by a controversy after it was reduced to a three-day affair, and the lack of match time was not lost on Sangakkara.
“They have struggled here and one of the reasons could be lack of preparation. So they really need to think hard because you cannot prepare while you are playing the Test matches. You have to find that confidence to answer the questions asked by English bowlers in training and in practice games.
“English bowlers have exploited the usual subcontinental weaknesses here and that has created more questions than answers for the Indian side.”
India lost at Lord’s by an innings and 159 runs, with the defeat coming within technically two days as rain played spoilsport throughout the game.
“It all went wrong at the toss itself. They were great bowling conditions on Day 2, and James Anderson and Chris Woakes made life tough for them. When you are out for 107, and conditions next day are very good for batting, it is hard to pull things back even when Mohammad Shami bowled beautifully.
“It leaves a question mark on the Indian team selection. If you are playing five days then yes under the sun, it would have been different with two spinners coming into the game. But they really didn’t make any impact on the game.
“The England batsmen regrouped really well after initial breakthroughs. Again in this innings the English bowlers showing that they know the conditions and how they can make an impact with the swinging ball.”
Sangakkara felt India’s selection for Lord’s was “heavily influenced” by the way they played at Edgbaston.
“They made a decision based on an having an extra fast bowler there, and having said that, fast bowlers usually do most of the damage at Lord’s. So they should have stuck with more or less the same team, or bowling attack [by bringing in Pujara for Dhawan]. Hardik Pandya played, but they could have played an extra batsman and an extra pacer instead if they wanted to.”
Even so, it marked the 37th time in as many Tests that Kohli fielded a different playing eleven.
“They haven’t played the same side for now 37 Tests, so that goes a lot to say how things are. I am not saying that it is a bad thing but sometimes in Test cricket batsmen and bowlers need consistency in selection. It gives you confidence, trust and the courage to go out there to perform for the side.
“Sometimes changing and chopping is not a negative thing, and sometimes it can be a negative thing. But a change always has to be tactical [not for the heck of it].”
