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Former Pakistan Cricketer Slams 'Overconfident' India As Kiwis Triumph In Pune Test

Anurag Dasgupta

New Zealand defeated India in Pune [Source: PTI] New Zealand defeated India in Pune [Source: PTI]

Former Pakistan cricketer, Basit Ali took a brutal dig at the Indian team after their embarrassing defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the Pune Test. Ahead of the series, no one really gave a chance to the Kiwis to pull off an upset, but that's just what happened.

After a massive victory in Bengaluru, a confident New Zealand side overpowered an overconfident Indian team as the Kiwis sealed the series and have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead. It was India's first series defeat at home in 12-years as the dominance was ended in an emphatic fashion.

Former cricketer, Basit Ali reckons that after defeating Bangladesh inside 1.5 days in Kanpur, the Indian team became overconfident and took the Kiwis lightly as the Rohit Sharma led side prepare for a bigger challenge in Australia.

"I had said chasing 350-plus will be too difficult. There had to be ton from one of the top three batters. India's batting got exposed. In the first match, Kiwi pacers took 17 wickets. In the second Test, spinners took 19 wickets. India players were neither able to play pacers well nor spinners. On a track that had pace and bounce (Bengaluru), India lost and on a spinning track, India lost as well, Basit said on his YouTube channel.

"The match India won against Bangladesh in two days and New Zealand's 2-0 defeat in Sri Lanka, the team might have thought they would beat the Kiwis easily. This means, Indian management and Indian players were overconfident," he added.

India's WTC finale place in jeopardy after embarrasing defeat

With two defeats in two matches against New Zealand, India's WTC finale spot is in jeopardy. The situation still remains in India's hands, but they now need to win 4 out of their remaining 6 Tests to qualify for the event taking place in June next year.

However, the task won't be easy as India will play 5 Tests in Australia and they'll face a stern test against a strong Australian team at home. Plus, other teams are also lurking around as India need to be cautious about their approach.