Former India cricketer turned commentator Parthiv Patel has provided a solution to India’s frequent batting collapses in Test cricket. Notably, Indian batters have been in poor form off late as they were recently whitewashed in the home Test series against New Zealand.
The collapses have followed the team to Australia as well, which resulted in the loss in the second Test in Adelaide. Recently, Patel shared his opinion on the matter and mentioned India’s weakness against facing spin on turning tracks at home.
“There is no doubt that collapses have occurred, especially in home series. We have seen collapses on rank turner pitches against New Zealand. When we toured Australia, the collapses continued there,” Patel said on Cricbuzz.
Further speaking ahead, the former wicketkeeper batter highlighted that the batting failures is not the result of extreme aggression and the Indian batters need to apply themselves more.
“I do not believe this has happened due to extreme aggression. If we respect the traditional style of Test cricket and bat with discipline, these are the same batters who have previously performed well. Indian batters need to apply themselves more because they have the ability. If they bat with discipline, they can succeed anywhere,” he added.
India’s batting debacles in recent times
India were recently bundled out for 46, which was their third lowest score, in the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru. The Indian batting has crumbled in both spinning and swinging conditions in the past few months. They failed to negate the threat of Ajaz Patel and Mitchell Santner in home conditions against New Zealand.
In the ongoing series, India have been undone by the Australian pacers as they’ve surpassed the 300-run mark just once in the six innings so far in the series. Indian batters have struggled massively in Tests in the ongoing year with just two players, namely Yashasvi Jaiswal (52.48) and Shubman Gill (43.30) averaging over 40 among batters having over 203 runs to their name.
Batting stalwarts Virat Kohli (25.06 avg) and Rohit Sharma (26.39 avg) have also had one of their worst years of the careers forcing the likes of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja have contributing immensely lower down the order.
As India head to Melbourne for the fourth Test against Australia, they will desperately need their batters to put up an improved performance as they aim to take a lead in the series which is currently tied at 1-1.
