Former India spinner, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan felt the visitors missed the services of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Wriddhiman Saha in England. The world’s no.1 team got a thumping from the hosts, as India conceded the series with one more Test game to play.
India skipper Virat Kohli also tried various lineups as usual but for the first time stuck with the same XI in his captaincy career during the Southampton game.
However, the decision did not reap any benefits, as India lost the game by 60 runs to England. The lack of contributions from the lower-middle order is one of the primary factors in India’s poor showing in the series.
Although Hardik Pandya shuns inconsistently, he was impotent with the ball apart from the third Test. On the other hand, both Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant could not deliver with the bat. Sivaramakrishnan thinks the inclusion of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Wriddhiman Saha would have made a huge difference for India.
Speaking to TOI Laxman said, “Instead of Hardik Pandya, the team management could have used Bhuvneshwar Kumar and he would have been a big boost for the team. India really missed him. The team also missed the services of Saha.”
“Bhuvneshwar could have taken more wickets than Pandya and scored some runs. Similarly, Saha would not have given so many byes and would have certainly scored more in the series. Their presence wouldn’t have hurt India so much.”
Considering the amount of runs Bhuvneshwar Kumar had scored in England back in 2014, he would have been a massive addition to the team’s lower-order. However, much to the bad luck of India, he missed the complete test series due to an injury.
Meanwhile, Saha has proven his batting skills over the past couple of seasons. He is undoubtedly the best wicket keeper in the longest format going around for some time now.
Top Order Failure- Another Major Concern
Another major problem for India was the lack of new ball negotiation by openers. Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul have all failed to stay at the crease for over 30 overs in all the four Tests.
Speaking on the issue, Laxman said: “The Indian openers should have batted at least for 20 to 30 overs with a minimum score of 75 runs. It would have taken a lot of pressure of the middle-order. The likes of Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane would have played much freely thereafter. But that didn’t happen. Kohli was left alone to do all the scoring in the middle-order.”
All in all, it is not such a great tour for India, as they failed to live up to the expectations.
But the series is still a great lesson for the Indian team, as they continue their journey to become the best visiting side in the world. Despite not having a great outing, India needs to pick themselves up, as they will be touring Australia and New Zealand in the next six months time.