Former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly, also the past BCCI president, slammed the performance of Indian batsmen in the recently concluded five-match Test series against Australia, which India lost with a scoreline of 1-3. The first match was won at Perth by India under Jasprit Bumrah by 295 runs, after which the hosts won the second, fourth, and fifth Tests at Adelaide Oval, Melbourne Cricket Ground, and Sydney Cricket Ground, respectively. Aussies hammered India by 10 wickets in the pink-ball Test, which finished within three days, and won the last two matches by 184 runs and 6 wickets, respectively.
Indian batters were only able to breach the 200-foot mark in a single innings on a paltry three occasions during the course of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, which ultimately led to the team’s first Test series defeat to Australia in a decade.
Ganguly, who toured Australia a number of times during his 12-year-long Test career, said that only by doing something extraordinary would the batting unit create a prospect for India to win Tests with better consistency.
“We did not bat well; we have to bat well in Test cricket. , you will not win Test matches. If you score 170, 180, you cannot win Test matches. You have to score 350-400,” Ganguly was quoted saying to India Today.
“No one can be blamed. Everyone has to score runs,” he added.
In the five-match Test series, batting superstar Virat Kohli could only manage to score 190 runs in nine innings. The 36-year-old was dismissed eight out of eight times while attempting to play a shot on the ball, which was bowled outside the off stump line.
Ganguly was surprised by the recent poor form of Kohli, but said that it happened to a veteran of 123 matches and he would come out of it. I don’t understand. Such a great player, but I am sure he will come out of this problem,” the former India captain said.
Kohli’s underwhelming batting performance in the last two Test series raised so many eyebrows over his place in the Indian Test side. The very next red-ball series for India is due in June, but it will be interesting to see through the course of the event if the right-handed batter can hold onto his spot.
