Former India opener Mohammad Kaif hit out at the current batting line-up after the Men in Blue suffered a crushing four-wicket defeat by England in the second ODI on July 16 in Cardiff.
Indian National Cricket Team suffered a shocking collapse against England Cricket Team in the second ODI in Cardiff. The touring team were in a strong position at 178/4 but were bowled out for just 233 runs in just 44 overs in the second ODI.
England later chased down the target in 44.1 overs to level the ongoing three-match ODI series 1-1, with the deciding series to be played at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground on Sunday 19 July. Chris Srikanth questions Shivam Dube’s place in India’s ODI squad.
India’s batting collapse in Cardiff ODI
The Men in Blue got off to a good start as Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill added 44 runs for the first wicket. After Gill got out, Virat Kohli joined Rohit and they added another 60 runs to keep India in control. Rohit was dismissed for 26 but Kohli continued his brilliant form.
The former Indian captain added 67 runs along with Shreyas Iyer, who also scored a brilliant fifty, for the fourth wicket as the team needed a total of over 300. But Kohli’s wicket triggered a massive batting collapse.
The lower middle order failed to support Iyer as India lost their last six wickets for just 55 runs and were bowled out for 233 in 44 overs. Jasprit Bumrah was the only lower-order batsman to bat and remained unbeaten in 20 balls off 13 balls in Cardiff.
Mohammed Kaif slams India for failing to bat 50 overs against England
After the match, Mohammed Kaif expressed his disappointment with the way India batted in Cardiff. The commentator said that the team failed in one of the most important parts of ODI cricket by not batting all 50 overs despite having enough batting depth.
Kaif emphasized that India should have batted all 50 overs because they had enough batsmen till number eight, but they squandered a great opportunity by giving away their wickets cheaply.
Mohammad Kaif said on Cricbuzz: “The first thing we learned from our seniors about ODIs is that we have to bat for 50 overs. If you score 20-30 runs after playing those overs, then that’s a different matter, but you have to bowl all 50 overs.”
The cricket expert added: “At the moment we are talking about batting depth; we had batting up to No. 8 today. India will be disappointed that they could not bowl all 50 overs.” before, Wasim Jaffer urges Team India to be patient with Gurnoor Brar, welcomes Jasprit Bumrah’s return.
Injured Washington Sundar to miss Lord’s ODI
Meanwhile, India suffered a huge setback ahead of the third and final ODI against England. All-rounder Washington Sundar is injured and is set to miss the series-deciding match at Lord’s.
India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak spoke about Sundar’s injury which hinted that the all-rounder will miss the deciding match of the ODI series at Lord’s. IANS quoted Kotak as saying: “Washington’s injury that he had when he ran that first time up the middle. His hamstring, I think, looks like a bad injury and the next ball he got it.”