England vs India 2018: Harbhajan Singh Livid With India's Poor Performance, Blames Ravi Shastri

Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who is out of the national selection radar for a long time has come hard at Team India and its head coach Ravi Shastri. He stated that Shastri is answerable to India’s dismal performance in England in the ongoing Test series so far.

After losing the opening Test by 31 runs at Edgbaston, India were blown away by an innings and 59 runs in the second Test at Lord’s.

“For us there is no away, every game is a home game because we don’t play the opponent, we play the pitch. Our job is to conquer the pitch wherever we go,” Shastri told Aaj Tak.

Harbhajan who is one of those very few players who played more than 100 Tests for his nation said that like all the players, the coach must also be held accountable for India’s wretched run in the Test series so far.

“The coach has to come on record, today or tomorrow he has to speak up. He is answerable to everyone. If India loses the series, then he might have to eat his words and admit that conditions do make a lot of difference,” Harbhajan added.

Harbhajan is currently busy with his commentary stint in England.

India didn’t show any intent against England says, Harbhajan Singh:

“We haven’t shown any intent to fight back. The willingness to win is missing, and that is most disheartening. We are losing without posing any challenge to the opponent. It is extremely disappointing,” said Harbhajan.

The off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also feels that the constant chopping and changing is also one of the main reasons behind the below-par performances dished out by India in England.

“On foreign tours, a good opening partnership makes such a huge difference. But in every match, our opening pair is getting changed. In every game, the playing eleven is getting changed,” Harbhajan remarked.

 

“Even the middle order isn’t set. At the Lord’s, we had a green wicket and overcast conditions, but the team management decided to play two spinners. Was it really needed?,” Harbhajan asserted.

 

“The hosts could have been all out for 160-170 if the third seamer in Umesh had played instead of an extra spinner,” he said.

Meanwhile, he also felt that Hardik Pandya has not lived upto to his reputation of being an all-rounder and the tag should be taken away from him.

“He (Pandya) hasn’t got many runs as a batsman, and the captain doesn’t seem to have confidence in his bowling. If he doesn’t bowl in these conditions, then things will only get difficult for him and the Indian team in the future,” he stated.

 

“We have to remove the all-rounder tag from him as an all-rounder contributes in both the departments as (Ben) Stokes, (Sam) Curran did in the first Test and now (Chris) Woakes has done at the Lord’s. The same is expected of Hardik Pandya, he cannot become Kapil Dev overnight,” Harbhajan concluded.