VVS Laxman calls out lack of application from India batsmen after loss in New Zealand
India succumbed to a 2-0 defeat, losing the Tests by big margins of 10 and seven wickets respectively, but it was the performance of the batsmen that was most worrying.
India did not touch the 200-run mark in three of their four outings, and on the one occasion they did – 242 in the first innings in Christchurch – they still ended up with a total much lesser than they would have liked, having looked good for 350 at one stage, before they crumbled in a heap after tea on the opening day.
"I am sure the batting group would be hurting, especially, since they take a lot of pride in preparation but were caught napping by New Zealand's game plans for two Test matches in a row,” Laxman wrote in his column for The Times of India. "I agree the conditions were tricky and challenging, but that's no reason why there shouldn't have been a greater application from the batsmen.
“New Zealand's plans were straightforward enough – to get swing with the new ball and make use of the lateral movement and, should that fail to produce wickets, to resort to the liberal use of the short ball."
To further illustrate his point, Laxman cited the similar manner of some of the batsmen’s dismissals. Virat Kohli was done in by the inswinger in both innings in Christchurch, where it was evident that he was mentally prepared to not be enticed by the wide delivery outside the off stump but was surprised by the one that curved into him. Mayank Agarwal, too, succumbed to the ball that came back into him in both innings.
"Virat was trapped leg before to the ball coming in twice in the second Test, Mayank Agarwal fell in similar fashion in both innings in Christchurch to Trent Boult's inswingers, Prithvi Shaw was cramped up and dismissed fending to balls following him in the second innings of both Tests," Laxman wrote.
When the conditions weren’t swinging as much, New Zealand resorted to the short ball, to which India’s batsmen hooked compulsively. It led to the downfall of Agarwal and Kohli in the first Test, while in the second, G Hanuma Vihari and Cheteshwar Pujara perished to the shot, the latter in highly uncharacteristic fashion.
But Laxman was especially concerned by what he saw from Rahane, who visibly struggled through his entire stay at the crease in Christchurch, especially against short balls. Rahane took a blow to the side of the helmet at one point, before getting bowled when he tried to move inside the line of another Neil Wagner short ball.
"Ajinkya Rahane's tortured stint in the second innings in Christchurch best illustrated India's confusion," Laxman wrote. "For an experienced and accomplished batsman who has scored runs all around the world, Rahane seemed all at sea against Neil Wagner and Kyle Jamieson's short-ball barrage, and tried to hit his way out of trouble. On that surface, it was a method never designed to succeed."