Aggressive India need to play judiciously not recklessly

Everygame has an outcome — win, loss or tie — and under very unfortunate situations a washout/abandonment but what makes an outcome significant is its implications.

On Sunday, New Zealand got the better of India by eight wickets in the first Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, but it was not like any other match as records were shattered or created.

This was Kiwis’ first Test victory in India after 1988, and overall just the third win in red-ball format with Tom Latham getting the privilege to be the third Black Caps skipper after Graham Dowling (1969) and John Wright (1988) to win a Test in India. Not only had hosts India failed to keep their 36-yr-old record against Kiwis intact but also set record for wrong reasons when they collapsed to an unimaginable 46 runs in the first inning of the Test. This is our lowest-ever total at home and third lowest overall in Test history.

Even as the one big question ‘what went wrong for India?’ began to shroud every cricket mind, the Indian team captain Rohit Sharma was upfront in owning up and taking responsibility for the debacle. “It was my misjudgement of the pitch” was what Rohit Sharma said. The first day’s play was cancelled due to heavy rains and the pitch was under covers. The next day he didn’t read the pitch well and in spite of overcast weather he opted to bat first. His blunder proved disastrous for the batters as the New Zealand pacers used the condition well to bundle out India for a paltry 46 runs. In reply, riding on RachinRavindra’s brilliant century, the visitors first innings ended at 402.

India fought back valiantly in the second innings with century from Sarfaraz Khan (150) and brilliant batting from Rishabh Pant (99), Rohit Sharma (52) and ViratKohli (70). But the batters down the order failed to keep the momentum and fell cheaply only to wrap up the innings at 462 setting a 107-run victory target for the visitors. Clearly, it was not enough for India to rein over New Zealand.

Complementing the grave failure from the skipper, India played with three spinners and two fast bowlers. India should have played three fast bowlers when Akash Deep would have been an ideal choice over KuldeepYadav. It is still a puzzle on why the team management went for another spinner despite having better fast bowling options.

The selection of team was another glaring mistake by skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach GautamGambhir. It would have been a different ballgame for the Indian side had they incorporated a fast bowler instead of a spinner.

Although JaspritBumrah and Mohammed Siraj did bowl well, it could not put break on Kiwis from being triumphant in the first Test of the series. This win was all the more remarkable for New Zealand as star batter Kane Williamson was not available to play .

Skipper Rohit Sharma’s assertion that “those three hours, when they collapsed on 46 runs, won’t define what this Indian team is and any judgement of his players based on that performance will be unfair,” stands ground as India have the firepower to bounce back.

However, his assertion that India will not change their newfound aggressive approach towards Test cricket after just one defeat sounds good but lacks depth because their approach failed to take the pressure out of their game.

Playing ones natural game and aggressively are all-welcome but playing recklessly cannot be construed as being aggressive. Apart from the failure in decision making front, Indian batters too failed to play judiciously and a humiliating defeat was imminent.

Despite losing the first Test, India remains on top spot in the World Test Championship table, while New Zealand rose to the fourth position in the table.

With the Test series not out of hand, India should now look to mount a significant response in the remaining two matches.