England vs India 2018: Poor Shot Selection Led to Defeats in Edgbaston and Lord's: Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag, the former India cricketer, has slammed Indian batsmen poor shot selection as the reason behind their loss in the first two Tests against England at Edgbaston and Lord’s.

Meanwhile, the visitors lost the first Test by 31 runs and followed it up with a more humiliating defeat by an innings and 159 runs. These losses have undoubtedly attracted criticism, and former English cricketers have come hard at the Indian team.

Virender Sehwag spoke on the same line admitting that they batted like immature cricketers. He went on to add that batsmen from India failed to implement themselves while talking to India TV.

“It’s right to say that they (Indian batsmen) played like immature cricketers. I feel, they must have prepared well for the tour but failed in the implementation. Indian batsmen’s poor shot selection led to defeats at Edgbaston and Lord’s. Despite being the most experienced batsmen in the Indian team, they have failed to perform,” Sehwag said.

However, after the recent loss, the Indian cricketers traveled separately ahead of the third Test against England. Virender Sehwag feels they should spend more time together ahead of the Trent Bridge Test.

“It is shocking for me to see Indian players traveling separately. I hope, the BCCI knows about it. When we used to play, we used to travel all together on the team bus. Maybe, the trend has changed with time. But it’s not good to follow this trend after a defeat as it is important for the team members to spend time together after losing a match. You need to discuss about the mistakes you did in the match and strategise for the next game,” Sehwag noted.

India should have used former cricketers as batting consultants in England

The 104 Tests veteran, Virender Sehwag was of the opinion that the current team needs guidance from former batting greats such as Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly.

“The team management should have called up players like Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly on England tour as batting consultants as they have scored many runs there. Their experience would have benefitted the Indian batsmen.

“Batsmen like Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane would have learnt a lot from Dravid as they have a similar temperament. I could have helped KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan as their playing style is similar to mine,” Sehwag concluded.