IND vs SA: Team India Is Massively Overrated Team In Tests And T20Is- Krishnamachari Srikkanth

Former India batter Krishnamachari Srikkanth has launched a scathing attack towards Team India, saying that their T20I and Test teams are overrated. His comments have come after India’s embarrassing defeat against South Africa in the first Test of the ongoing two-match series.

The Proteas thrashed India by an innings and 32 runs inside three days to take an unassailable lead. While their hopes of winning their first-ever Test series in South Africa have come to an end, Team India will be desperate to bounce back in the second Test and avoid a series defeat.

And only time will tell how Rohit Sharma and his teammates perform in the second Test, Krishnamachari Srikkanth has slammed the Test side. Speaking on his YouTube channel, the India great opined that several cricketers playing in the Test team have underperformed in recent times before saying that several deserving players are not getting their chances.

“In T20 cricket India are highly overrated. ODI cricket, we are a fantastic team. What happens in ODIs, in the semi-finals, finals, it’s just a one-off match. It’s a luck factor, a lot depends on luck in these matches. I read Rohit Sharma’s statement, for a cricketer, the 50-over World Cup is a huge achievement.

We are sometimes underperforming in the knockout matches, in the semi-finals, and the final. But we are a gun side in ODI. Regardless of where we play, be it India, Australia, or South Africa, we are a gun side,” Krishnamachari Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.

“Test cricket, we are overrated. We have to make sure… I think it was a phase of 2-3 years… when Virat Kohli was the captain of the team, we were outstanding. We dominated in England, we fought hard in South Africa, we won in Australia. We had a good phase for 2-4 years. Yes, we were dominating in England, in Australia,” he added.

Forget ICC rankings: Krishnamachari Srikkanth:

Speaking further, Krishnamachari Srikkanth said that the ICC rankings are misleading. India finished 2023 as the top team in all formats of the game although they failed to win any ICC trophy. They lost the World Test Championship final and the World Cup final against Australia. The former batsman also said that India just cannot rest on past laurels and needs to bounce back after failing to impress in recent months.

“We have to forget ICC ranking. We are always 1-2, 1-2. It’s a combination of having over-rated cricketers and people who have not performed up to their potential. Or there are players who have not enough chances like Kuldeep (Yadav),” Srikkanth said.

“If you want to be the best team, you should be capable of being the giants in their home grounds. That is what we did when Rishabh Pant was firing. But you can keep on talking that we scored in Australia, we scored in England. You can sing the same song, you won’t move forward if you rest on past laurels. You have to just look at how you have performed in the last 2 years, last 18 months,” he added.

The second and final Test of the series between India and South Africa is scheduled to begin on January 3 in Cape Town. After the South Africa tour, India will play a three-match T20I series against Afghanistan before welcoming England for a five-match Test series.