Former Indian batsman Mohammad Kaif has criticized the current batting order after the Men in Blue suffered a four-wicket defeat at the hands of England in the second ODI in Cardiff on July 16.
The Indian national cricket team faced a shocking batting collapse against the England national cricket team in the second ODI in Cardiff. The touring team was in a strong position at 178/4, but were all out for 233 in just 44 overs in the second ODI.
Later, England chased the target in 44.1 overs to level the ongoing three-match ODI series 1-1, with the series decider set to take place on Sunday, July 19 at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground. Meanwhile, Kris Srikkanth raised questions over Shivam Dubey’s place in India’s ODI team.
India’s batting collapses in Cardiff ODI
The Men in Blue got off to a good start as Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill added 44 runs for the first wicket. After Gill’s dismissal, Virat Kohli joined Rohit and added 60 more runs to keep India in control. Rohit was out after scoring 26 runs, but Kohli continued his excellent form.
The former Indian captain added 67 runs for the fourth wicket with Shreyas Iyer, who also scored a brilliant half-century as the team stood at over 300. But Kohli’s wicket led to a massive batting collapse.
The lower middle order failed to support Iyer as India lost their last six wickets for just 55 runs and were all out for 233 runs in 44 overs. Jasprit Bumrah was the only lower-order batsman to struggle in Cardiff and remained unbeaten on 20 off 13 balls.
Mohammad Kaif criticizes India for failing to bat 50 overs against England
After the match, Mohammad Kaif expressed his disappointment with the way India batted in Cardiff. The commentator said that the team failed in one of the most important parts of ODI cricket by not batting for the full 50 overs despite having sufficient batting depth.
Kaif has stressed that India should have batted the full 50 overs as they had enough batsmen till number eight, but they wasted a golden opportunity by giving away their wickets cheaply.
“The first thing we learned from our seniors about ODI is that we have to bat for 50 overs. If you score 20-30 runs after playing those overs, that’s another thing, but you have to play the full 50 overs,” Mohammad Kaif said on Cricbuzz.
The cricket pundit said, “Nowadays, we talk about batting depth; we batted till No. 8 today. India will be disappointed that they could not bat the full 50 overs.” Earlier, Wasim Jaffer urged Team India to be patient with Gurnoor Brar, and lauded the return of Jasprit Bumrah.
Injured Washington Sundar will not be able to play in Lord’s ODI
Meanwhile, India has suffered a big setback before the third and last ODI against England. All-rounder Washington Sundar is injured and will not be able to play in the series decider at Lord’s.
India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has revealed the details of Sundar’s injury, indicating that the all-rounder will miss the ODI series decider at Lord’s. “Washington’s injury, which he got when he ran his first run towards mid-off. I think his hamstring looks like a bad injury and he was out the very next ball,” Kotak was quoted as saying by IANS.