Former Indian World Cup winner Zaheer Khan believes India’s batting needs to improve significantly as the next three tests against England approach. The outstanding batting performances of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill helped India win the second test, but experienced Indian batters failed to make an impact for the team.
In the first innings of the second test, Yashasvi Jaiswal stood firm at one end and led the team’s effort with the bat, while his veteran teammates failed to deliver. No batsman got a fifty in the first innings and Shubman Gill’s magnificent hundred enabled India to set a massive total to defend in the game, with senior batters failing once again.
Speaking on Jiocinema, Zaheer Khan believes that India has a few batting issues to address and wants Indian batters to perform better in the upcoming games. He cited England’s collective batting in the second innings, which enabled them to score around 300 runs to India’s largely reliant on Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill.
“There are a few concerns when you look at the team – batting is something that they will be talking about because under these conditions, on this sort of a surface, we have seen India do better.
“You look at England’s second innings, there is only one half-century and they still managed to get close to 300. That is what collective effort can do. We have seen two brilliant innings – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, but with the bat, there is a lot of work to be done,” Zaheer Khan said.
The Men in Blue batters failed to fire as a unit in the second Test, as the home team relied on opener Jaiswal’s first innings of 209 and Shubman Gill’s 104-run performance in the second, as well as bowler Jasprit Bumrah’s stunning bowling effort, to achieve a series-levelling 106-run victory.
Rohit Sharma Was Able To Bring Out Those Individual Performances From The Players – Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan praised India for bringing out the aggression in their approach to tie the series 1-1 in Vizag, as well as Indian captain Rohit Sharma for getting the best out of his players in the second game.
“If you are one down in the series, you need that aggression, fight, and belief to make sure that it is 1-1 after the end of the game. And I think Rohit was able to bring out those individual performances from the players,” Zaheer Khan added.
Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Rajat Patidar, KS Bharat, and Axar Patel did not contribute to the team’s success with the bat in either innings, failing to take advantage of the batting-friendly conditions in Vizag. The experienced Indian batters would like to turn things around in the next three home tests and win the series.