While talking about India’s defeat in the first Test against New Zealand, former India coach John Wright said the Test No.1 side should work on their top and middle-order woes as soon as possible to come back strongly in the series when they take on hosts in the final Test starting Feb 29.
In the absence of Rohit Sharma, India chose Prithvi Shaw alongside Mayank Agarwal and the new openers failed to get going. Shaw could manage just 30 runs in the 2 innings, while Agarwal was also not impressive as he was earlier.
“India looked out of sorts. It had two new openers and the middle-order found the going tough. It has to find answers quickly,” John Wright told Sportstar. “The good thing for the Indians is that their A’ team played in Christchurch recently and Kohli’s side would not be short on inputs about the conditions.”
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“Kane has done enough to have the term Great’ attached to his name. He has real quality and has the footwork and the balance to succeed in different conditions. Williamson is one of those rare batsmen whom you look at the scoreboard and he’s already 40. And you had not realised he had scored all those runs. That’s the quality of a very good player. And he’s also very humble, that very good for a player of his stature. Plus Williamson is not even halfway through his career,” he added.
John Wright, who led India to their historic Test and ODI win in Pakistan in 2004 during his tern in coaching, also spoke about the form of Jasprit Bumrah since his return to the national side from the injury. He managed to pick up only one wicket in the recently concluded Test.
“He’s coming back after an injury. He’s finding his feet and rhythm again. It can happen to most players. After the highs, there is a plateau,” Wright said.
“Teams must have seen endless videos of him. Once you become the lynchpin of an attack, the opposition teams really put you under the scanner and look for methods to cope with you best. Sometimes, they just play you off, not give wickets to you. Bumrah is an intelligent person, and I am sure he will find a way out. He has to fight his way through such periods,” John Wright concluded.
