The former middle-order batter of India, Manoj Tiwary, has sent a stern warning to India’s Test captain Rohit Sharma and their head coach Gautam Gambhir on the potential cracks in the dressing room on the back of their first Test series defeat at home against New Zealand, breaking a proud 12-year record.
For the first time since they lost the 2012/13 series against Alastair Cook-led England side with a 2-1 margin, India faced an end to their 18-winning streak. Coming into the three-match series against New Zealand, the home side needed to win all of the encounters to confirm their qualification for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final.
Now, with two back-to-back defeats, they have found themselves in a position of winning four out of their six red-ball games, as they are going to face Australia down under for the upcoming five-match Test series of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023-25. Given the Pat Cummins-led side also is in the hunt for the same glory, the race won’t be an easy one.
Manoj Tiwary questions ‘surprising’ selection of India in the second Test
The former captain of Bengal, Manoj Tiwary, reckoned that the biggest enemy for India in the downfall was the foul weather in Bengaluru, where they decided to bat first on a wet surface and were blown away for just 46, their third-lowest innings total in the five-day format of the game.
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Even though India showed character with the bat in the second innings, it was never going to be enough to keep the Kiwis at bay, who eventually got the better of the home side after 36 years. Tiwary said that the results of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium forced the management to go with a turner in the second fixture and alter their playing eleven.
“India’s biggest enemy was the weather in Bengaluru because they had prepared a turning track. After winning the toss, India had the opportunity to field, but I don’t know why they opted to bat first, and that is where it all started. First, they got the team selection wrong, then after losing the first Test, they made three changes.” Manoj expressed during a post-match dissection of the second game on Cricbuzz.
The selectors added the off-spin all-rounder Washington Sundar for the second game, leaving out Kuldeep Yadav. But, once they lost the toss, the only way to expect positive results would have been by destroying the batting show of the Kiwis in both innings. But, once they gave away a lead of over 100 runs, it was never going to be possible.
The Howrah-born felt that even though Sundar had done a terrific job in the contest, the fellow spin all-rounder Axar Patel, who was part of the squad at the initial stage, could have displayed the same show.
“Well, you could call that Washington Sundar change an inspiring one, but that doesn’t mean that Kuldeep Yadav could not get them wickets. So they felt the dearth of batting options, and hence, they wanted Sundar to contribute lower down the order. That is why India went out of their way to get him in.” Manoj Tiwary shed light during the interaction.
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The 38-year-old also pointed fingers at the captain of India for not giving a single over to Akash Deep in the second innings. According to him, these scenarios could lead to a lot of cracks among the players of the team.
“What this will lead to is in the coming days, there will be a lot of disturbances in the team, there will be cracks in the team. You already have a spin-bowling all-rounder in Axar Patel, who picked up wickets in spinning conditions previously. But you ignored him and then benched Kuldeep in the second Test. Then, you did not start with Jasprit Bumrah in the attack. All these things will backfire.” The veteran concluded, as India now looks to avoid a whitewash for the first time in a home Test series since 2000, as they move to the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, for the final game, starting on November 01.
