After New Zealand ended India’s astounding streak of 18 consecutive home Test series victories dating back to 2012, Manoj Tiwary came down hard on captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir. New Zealand therefore became only the fourth nation to win a Test series in India after South Africa, Australia, and England since 1990.
The former cricketer of the Indian national team also cautioned Rohit and Gambhir, stating “there are chances of cracks in the team”.’
“India’s biggest enemy was the weather in Bengaluru, for they had laid down a turning track. Upon winning the toss India had the option of fielding, but I don’t know what made them win the toss and bat first, that is where everything began. Okay, first they got the team composition wrong and after going down in the first Test, they changed three players,” Tiwary was quoted as saying to Cricbuzz.
“Call that inspirational with the Washington Sundar shift if you will. Yet there was no reason Kuldeep Yadav could not have taken their wickets. That is why Washington Sundar ever came lower in the batting order for them. That is why India went out of their way to get him in. The consequence of what this will cause is that in the coming days there will be lots of disturbances in the team, there will be fissures in the team.’ This meant that there was already a spin-bowling all-rounder in Axar Patel, who had taken wickets on spinning tracks before but for some reason, you did not play him and then did not play Kuldeep in the second Test. You did not pick Akash Deep for the game in Bengaluru but you picked him for the second Test, however, did not bowl him in the second innings. Also, it was the case that Jasprit Bumrah was not the first bowler in the team that was asked to bowl. All these things will backfired,’ he added.”
The Indian men’s cricket squad shall seek to obtain a consolation victory in the third and final match of their three-Test series, which is scheduled to begin in Mumbai on Friday.
Download the CricInformer app
Take CricInformer with you. Get our app for cricket news and updates on your phone.