Former India Opener Lambasts India's Batting After ODI Series Loss to Australia
Indian batters struggled against Australian bowlers whenever there was swing and spin (Twitter)
Former Indian opener, Aakash Chopra, has expressed his thoughts on India's performance during the recently concluded ODI series against Australia where they suffered a defeat in the third and final ODI, resulting in a 2-1 series loss. The renowned commentator provided his insights on the team's shortcomings after the team faced their first series loss at home under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that India might not want bowler-friendly surfaces during the World Cup. He suggested that India would require absolute road-like pitches as they struggled against both swing and turn in the recently concluded series against Australia.
Plenty of questions to ponder. A huge takeaway for me is that we will need absolute road-like pitches when the World Cup happens because we neither need seaming nor turning tracks," said Chopra.
Chopra further elaborated on India's performance, stating that their batting was found wanting against both swing and turn during the series. He explained that India lost five wickets while chasing a target of 180 in one match and were bowled out for 117 in the other when the ball was swinging.
In addition, the former batter reckoned that when the ball was turning, India could not chase a 270-run total, which further highlights their batting struggles.
The cricketer-turned-analyst also pointed out that India's batting struggled in slightly bowler-friendly conditions against a decent bowling attack. He highlighted that when New Zealand and Sri Lanka came to play, India played on very good pitches and were scoring 350-400 runs.
However, from the three matches played against Australia, it became clear that India gets stuck when there is slight help from the pitch and when the opposition is good.
"Those are the kind of pitches that we are absolutely outstanding but from these three matches, we came to know that we get stuck when the opposition is good and there is slight help from the pitch," added the erstwhile cricketer.
In his final remarks, Chopra expressed his disappointment at India losing their top ranking in the ICC ODI team rankings. He emphasized that the rankings may not hold much significance to some, but it is a matter of great concern when India is no longer the number one ODI team in the world.
 "Jatin")
