India Played With Fewer Batsmen In The WTC Final: Irfan Pathan

Former Indian seam-bowling all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes that the Virat Kohli-led unit should have played an extra batter in the ICC World Test Championship final against New Zealand.

Last week, the Kane Williamson-led New Zealand defeated the former No.1 ranked team in the summit clash of the World Test Championship at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton by a comprehensive margin of eight wickets.

While analyzing India’s performance in the final and the reasons that led to an eight-wicket-defeat, Irfan Pathan reckoned that the Virat Kohli-led unit should have batted better in the second innings.

Virat Kohli’s men were knocked over for a mere 170 on the reserve day thanks to some brilliant seam-bowling by the BlacKCaps and some pretty ordinary batting by the Indian batters.

Pathan pointed out that New Zealand achieved the target of 139 at the loss of just two wickets on the same day where India lost its last 8 wickets for a mere 108 runs.

He also reckoned that there was a lack of determination on the part of the Indian batters as they looked to hit their way out of Neil Wagner’s short-pitch ploy instead of putting their body on the line.

‘’I think India played with fewer batsmen — which I highlighted before the ICC World Test Championship final. I feel there was a need for one more batsman in the team. We do not have quality fast-bowling all-arounder — which New Zealand possesses — and it is hard to find one. Now, If we talk from a proper cricketing point of view — what went wrong for India? I think the first innings went great, but Team India’s batting in the second inning was disappointing,” said Irfan Pathan on Star Sports’ show ‘Follow The Blues

‘’The ball wasn’t swinging as much in the second innings, and Indian batsmen could have batted more responsibly. I am aware of Rishabh Pant’s capabilities as a batsman and how he can hit balls very well, but that does not mean you hit a fast bowler outside — a sense of responsibility was required. Indian batters were using a lot of pull shots on bouncers; instead of using their body and this showed a lack of commitment,’’ said Irfan Pathan

‘’These questions are tough, but I hope Indian batsmen have the strength to give their answers in the future. And now we are back on the same topic — Kiwi batsmen were able to make 140 runs with the loss of two wickets, but our Indian team lost eight wickets building the same score,” he added.

As far as Team India’s bowling is concerned, Pathan felt that the lack of match-practice was clearly evident among the seamers as they looked tired during the second innings.

Irfan Pathan also added India should have used the bouncer ploy more frequently besides calling for an improvement in lengths.

“By the time we (Team India) started fielding for the second session, our bowlers were already tired. This happened because India didn’t get enough match practice. When a team gets less match practice, they don’t have the kind of match fitness required for a particular game,” added Irfan Pathan.

”I feel this will improve eventually. I think Indian bowlers should’ve opted for more bouncers — the way Neil Wagner did. And improvement is required in length, because we witnessed a lot of cut shots and back-foot punches from Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor,” he said.

Also Read- Don’t Think Anything Was Wrong With Playing XI, Batsmen Let Us Down – MSK Prasad On India’s WTC Final Loss