Indian cricketing superstars have been found wanting in this series. They are usually world beaters in their own backyard and the current no. 1 team in the world. To make things merrier, they were enjoying a 19-Test unbeaten streak which was finally halted at Pune. Team India has not managed to score more than 200 in the series and India’s number 3 reckons there is ‘nothing wrong with the batting line-up’. Is he living in Alice In Wonderland? Someone please clarify! In this Test as well they are looking down the barrel and then comes this statement by a senior statesman in the team.
Pujara still feels India are good against spinners, he says, “Most important thing was we did not have a big partnership. We kept losing wickets. There is nothing wrong with the Indian batting lineup. We are known to play better against spinners, apart from last three innings. We will have a better gameplan in the second innings. We are confident that we will do well.”
Now let us remind you, this trend started from Michael Clarke, who got 6 for 9 against India in Mumbai. Monty Panesar too bagged 12 wickets at Mumbai. More lately there was Dean Elgar and now there has been Stephen O’ Keefe and Natha Lyon. A statement like this after Nathan Lyons 8-fer is a shocker, nothing more, nothing less.
Then he went back to the stereotypes, adding further he said, “It was not easy for the fast bowlers as odd ball was staying low. They have put in a lot of hard work. Spinners did very well. You can see the run-rate, they were not able to score many runs. In a way it was victory for us. We bowled tight lines, even the lengths were very good. We bowled well and got six wickets but they did not score many runs.”
