"Virat Kohli and India have been exposed"- Australia legend before Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25

Cricket legend Ian Chappell has highlighted the shortcomings of Team India and Virat Kohli, whose performances this season have fallen short of his towering standards after they suffered a 0-3 whitewash at the hands of New Zealand in the home series.

The former Australian captain threw a spotlight on Virat Kohli’s ill-fated dismissal in the first innings of the Pune Test, using it as an example to highlight India’s broader issues with footwork and decision-making. Ian Chappell believes that the lack of confidence and poor shot selection troubled India’s batting throughout the three-match Test series against New Zealand.

Ian Chappell criticizes India’s shocking home Test series loss against New Zealand

India’s batting lineup collapsed under relentless pressure from New Zealand, facing a 25-run defeat in the third and final Test match at the Wankhede Stadium on November 3.

This shocking loss handed New Zealand a historic 3-0 Test series whitewash, making them only the fourth team ever to whitewash India in a series of three or more Tests after England, Australia, and the West Indies.

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The New Zealand spinners exploited every flaw on a pitch that confused the home team more than the visitors. Following the Mumbai Test match, Ian Chappell didn’t hold back, highlighting a glaring lack of footwork from key players, including batting talismanic Virat Kohli.

Lack of decisive footwork: Ian Chappell’s harsh take on Virat Kohli and India’s batting woes

In the second Test in Pune, Virat Kohli’s first-inning dismissal to a misleadingly simple ball from Mitchell Santner, which went through his defense without any effort to meet it on the full, demonstrated the troubles India's batting unit were facing against the Kiwi attack.

Ian Chappell stressed that Virat Kohli’s failure to judge the ball’s movement exposed Team India's lack of decisive footwork, which caused the batting collapse. The timing of this collapse couldn’t be worse for India, with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 just weeks away.

Ian Chappell wrote in his column for ESPNCricinfo: “Star batter Virat Kohli's first-inning dismissal was the perfect example of India's lack of decisive footwork. Kohli was clean bowled by a delivery from Santner that if the batter had taken even a small pace out of his crease, he could have hit on the full. However, instead of Kohli's lack of decisive footwork being the culprit, his shot selection was questioned.”

'The danger of the reverse sweep in Tests was adequately revealed by India'

The Australia legend mentioned that India’s poor form has only increased concerns, and the home Test series loss has exposed their vulnerability to disciplined spin bowling, warning that this performance might haunt them on the tougher pitches Down Under.

Chappell further noted, “Calamitous displays against New Zealand exposed weaknesses in India's batting. There's no good time for batting fragility, but on the eve of a tough tour of Australia, it's asking for trouble.

Regarding the supposedly all-important sweep shot, who is the insensitive coach who preached that the reverse sweep is safer to play in Test cricket rather than employing decisive footwork? The danger of the reverse sweep in tests was adequately revealed with the senseless dismissal of Yashasvi Jaiswal in the Mumbai Test.”

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He signed off by saying that the reverse sweep in tests can be a dangerous shot because it's premeditated, insisting that the precise footwork, on the other hand, is tailor-made to the actual length of the delivery. Chappell suggested the modern batter relies heavily on decisive footwork to negate good spin bowling, as these players are good at all types of sweep shots.