The Indian batsmen must immediately change their tactics if they did not want to face the ignominy of losing all the five test matches meekly, said former England opener Geoffrey Boycott. He termed the Indian teams batting as naive, irresponsible and bordering on stupidity. Indian batsmen should have shown the mental strength to face as the ball swings and seams. Playing cricket in different countries on different pitches and different climatic conditions is to test one's technique, character and ability to adopt to the changing circumstances. The Indian batsmen have failed miserably to adopt themselves and lacked application while trying to flick outswingers. They have to use all the technique they have learnt to stay put on the crease so that slowly and steadily they will be able to score runs. Indians batting have been so irresponsible that they threw away their wickets so easily. One should not get panic if you could not score runs fast. They should have patience and apply their mind so that they can slowly gain confidence and will be able to score runs. Swinging your bats at outswingers is thoughtless.
Trying to work outswingers through midwicket and then being surprised when you get bowled or nick it to the slips is brainless. Playing the ball on the up in front of your pad is a no no. The way the Indian batsmen showed in both the test is a testimony that they have not done their homework. They have come to England complacently and arrogantly thinking they can bat the same way and everything will be okay on the day. Boycott also warned the Indian team that Jimmy Anderson will be even more lethal at the Trend Bridge.
More mental than technical
India captain Virat Kohli feels his team's mounting batting troubles are more mental than technical and has urged his fellow batsmen to "keep it simple" in the head to save the ongoing Test series against England. If a batsman is clear in the head and he's clear about the plans he's taking, then if the ball does something off the pitch, you're able to counter it, said Kohli. "If my head's clouded, then I feel like the ball can do this, or that. You know there are three-four scenarios that run in your head. It sounds cliche but as the greats have said, keep this game simple, that's all you have to do. You can't come here and think the conditions are too difficult because they are really not if you're prepared to counter them." The skipper said the demons in the head have to be conquered.
"Any conditions in the world can be as easy or as difficult. In India, if you're not mentally there, it seems like the ball is doing a whole lot, even when it's not." The weather also did not favour India, who batted in overcast conditions while England scored their runs in bright sunshine on day three. "A lot of people are talking about the conditions, that we batted during a difficult time. On the day that was good, we had to bowl. And again, today was overcast and we had to bat. If we think about these things, we won't be able to plan for the future. There is nothing to be gained from thinking about what has happened and thinking what if. Going ahead in this series, we need to look at the mistakes we've made in this game and correct them. A sportsman has no other options," felt the captain.
Bowlers did well in the series opener but were not consistent enough at Lord's, he said. "You can't control the toss or the weather. We didn't play good cricket in this game. We bowled well in the beginning but didn't hit our areas consistently. We didn't get enough chances in the field to miss any, but with bat and ball we could have done much better than we did." There are problems across the board for India, as their openers failed in both Birmingham and Lord's, while barring Kohli, the middle-order didn't turn up either. Kohli said that no particular batsman could be blamed for this failure.
"Right now, it's not purely thinking that the openers haven't fired or the middle order hasn't done well, because as a batting unit, we haven't done well in this game as a whole. All we have to do is gear up for the next game, come out positive and not think about that I've done well...It's all about making the team win, and doing anything that we can to make that happen."
