India suffered shock back-to-back defeats against Bangladesh by a narrow margin in the first two ODIs of the three-match series. The Indian team’s horror show in Bangladesh has invited a lot of criticism for the star players, who have now lost two consecutive ODI series. Before getting embarrassed by Bangladesh, Team India suffered a 0-1 loss against New Zealand in a rain-hit three-match ODI series. The margin of defeat would have been bigger had rain not saved India in the final match of the series, which was played in Christchurch.
Taking a note of Indian players poor form in international matches, former Indian pacer and member of the 1983 World Cup winning team, Madan Lal lashed at Indian players and said that the players lack intensity and passion. He even went on to say that the team is heading in a wrong direction.
“Definitely the Indian team is not going in the right direction. I have not seen the intensity in the team of late. I have not seen ‘Josh’ in them in the last couple of years,” Lal was quoted as saying by PTI.
“They are not looking like an Indian team at all. That passion of playing for the country is missing. Either their bodies are too tired or they are just going through the motions. And this is a serious concern.”
The 71-year-old cricketer-turned-expert came hard on Indian batters and held the senior players responsible for team’s ordinary show in recent times.
“If you see the record, how many centuries they (seniors) have scored in the last three years? And how many in the last one year? With age factor, your hand-eye coordination slows down.
“But they are experienced players, and they should have performed. If your top order does not perform, you are not going to win.”
The former cricketer is also of the view that India should learn from other teams and adopt horses for courses approach by selecting different players for different formats.
“Every country is playing like that. Must have specialised cricketers for different formats. Why not have different players for different formats? All countries are doing it and India should also do the same,” he added.
