Ever since Team India lost the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship, nearly everyone slammed their poor show in the most important match. However, this is not the first time they missed the opportunity to win an ICC Title. So far they have lost chances in the Champions Trophy final in 2017 and the 2019 World Cup in 2019 as well. And, former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim has highlighted how India’s batting failed in testing conditions.
In the Champions Trophy, while chasing 339 to win, they lost Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli and reduced to 33/3. While 339 was a huge total to chase down, they felt more pressure because three top-order players could manage 26 runs among them. And, two years later at the 2019 World Cup semi-final, India, while chasing 240, they were 5/3 with KL Rahul, Rohit and Kohli back in the hut for 1 each.
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“This is hugely disappointing for Virat Kohli because he puts Test matches right at the top and he’s worked very hard along with his side to put India in this position where he could have won this – the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship. It’s a despair not only for him but for the entire side. But I do feel that the big question mark is about India’s ability to bat in these conditions,” Saba Karim said on Cricket.com.
“This was the battle between New Zealand’s frontline pacers vs India’s famed batting line up. Unfortunately, when there came a real Test in extreme conditions, the famed batting line-up faltered and it was the front-line bowling attack, the four-pronged pace-bowling attack that came up on trumps,” Saba Karim again shared.
However, he recently claimed that the selectors decided to pick Jasprit Bumrah seeing his previous records and he feels Bumrah could have been kept away from the game. Notably, Bumrah went wicketless in both innings of the WTC final.
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“I feel the selectors did not pay attention to the current form and went on reputation to a certain extent. Jasprit Bumrah has not played red-ball cricket since he got injured in Australia,” Saba Karim told India News. “He has only played white-ball cricket and that too only the T20s. He did not play in the home series against England. I felt he was woefully out of form and along with that out of practice if we talk about red-ball cricket.”
