Sunil Gavaskar hurt by repeated mistakes from Indian players

Sunil Gavaskar

Former India captain and ex-BCCI President Sunil Gavaskar has said that the Indian team has given up mentally in the ongoing Test series against England. Although he praised MS Dhoni who played according to merit of each ball, he blasted the others for putting up another poor show.

Mentality of giving up easily

“The important thing when you tour overseas is that you have to be ready to conquer conditions and be mentally prepared for the hard times. If you are not mentally prepared to fight it out, and try and slam your way out of trouble, you will get into more trouble. Some of the dismissals showed that the batsmen were playing with hard hands. It actually suggests India have learned nothing from the past two Test matches,” Gavaskar said.

India were all out for just 148 on the first day of the 5th Test against England. In reply, the hosts smashed the Indian bowlers around, reaching 62-0 at the end of day’s play. This was another shocking collapse by the Indians after losing the last two Test matches comprehensively.

Patience required

“Look at the way those dismissals have taken place; they weren't really wicket-taking deliveries. They have gone for shots when they should not have, when they were not ready to play the big shots and when the ball was still doing a bit. Patience was the need of the day. It is a five-day Test match and any team that bats for at least four sessions stays in the game. You can't stay in the game batting for three sessions, unless you bowl the opposition out in three sessions too,” the 65-year-old Mumbaikar said.

He also said that the Indian batsmen batted poorly and did not show good temperament.

“It has not been a happy day for India on the field. It was more of poor batting than any extraordinary bowling. There were a couple of good deliveries bowled as you would expect on a pitch where there was a fair bit of grass and a fair bit of hardness underneath the surface. But I think there was a lot of poor batting. Temperament is what separates the men from the boys. Dhoni does not have copybook technique. You should know which balls to play and leave and that is what Dhoni did. The Indians should have done that,” he added.