Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Indian cricket team need to improve' that was published in Newsband

Indian cricket team need to improve

India suffered string of defeats in Tests played abroad. The Indian cricket team under Virat Kohli is ambitious - no doubt but it has some way to go before the ambition is realised.

England condemned India to a 1-3 series loss. Of its last nine Test series outside Asia, India has won only one — against a less-than-impressive West Indies. India arrived in England this summer as the world’s No.1 Test team. The batting, however, let the side down, struggling against swing and seam. Preparation, as several former batting greats have observed, is the key.

Kohli, Four years ago, he was in dreadful form. This time around, he has been outstanding, having accumulated 544 runs in four Test matches. Kohli has shown patience and a kind of resolve never seen before. Currently he is the finest batsman in the world. India is, however, over-reliant on him. His captaincy, too, can improve. A captain can only be as good as his team, and Kohli’s legacy as a leader will be judged by the squad’s performance on tough tours.

The coach can lead the side by starting to act and perform instead of constantly bragging about the current lot and shaming the earlier stalwarts.

It is sad to watch Indian batsmen succumb to an off-spinner, who was instrumental in England conceding very little lead. Before that we allowed England tail to flourish and get them to 246. Maybe, introduction of spin to take advantage of the follow through foot marks of Ishant Sharma would have contained them to a score below 180. Because, it was the foot mark that was exploited by their spinner. Partly though the batsmen were responsible, one can't lose sight of Captain's planning deficiency.

India has now plenty of new players in Cricket. But the selection of players are monopolised by selectors, the reason they know best.. No country can win all the matches but the self-inflicted defeat hurts the lovers of cricket in India. It seems the test team is become stagnant because too much of stress on T20 and one day cricket.. Let the young players be given chance and selectors, the so called moghuls of cricket world of India, be changed.

By losing series, India has proved yet again that the players are unable to adapt to foreign conditions which is a cause of concern. Young players should be trained in foreign pitches to experience the conditions which would help at the time of playing tests.

India does not seem to learn from past experiences. The last time they got a drubbing, they came straight from the tour in the Caribbean with no practice matches. This time they have done the same mistake. And bringing in the promising Rishab Pant midway through the series and dropping him at the deep end was cruel on him. Poor lad; needs someone to help him recover his self-confidence. The pace attack did well when the ball was swinging. But they had no answer to the second line of defence of England when the ball became old. India's lone spinner did not do well even when the conditions were favourable to him. Axar and Kuldeep just did not show up.

Virat Koli, though he is in form on his batting, miserably failed to motivate the batting side who were the prey for swing attack and they fumbled to take reasonable score. But he must be appreciated for preventing a whitewash. Indian players must improve their batting skill by playing in all kind of tracks because the opponents also play on the same track.