When No.1 ranked Test side India was put against New Zealand at Basin Reserve in Wellington, the visiting side was humbled by 10 wickets after Kiwi pacers Trent Boult and Tim Southee ran through the Indian batting line-up. The defeat also put an end to India’s seven-match winning streak.
However, the defeat could be played down given New Zealand had home advantage and were familiar with the pitches and above all, they also won the toss in Wellington where teams find it extremely difficult to bat in the first innings with the track offering pace and bounce to the bowlers. But that is like going too easy on the tourists as they performed equally bad in their 2nd innings.
In the past, teams have put solid partnerships in the second innings while batting at the same ground to turn the game on its head. When India last played at the same venue, New Zealand were bowled out for 192 on Day 1 and then Brendon McCullum and BJ Watling put on 352 runs together in the 2nd innings as New Zealand declared for 680. This was only one such instance where it becomes difficult to pick wickets on New Zealand pitches on 2nd innings as compared to the first.
One final time training with the red ball this season #TeamIndia all set for the 2nd Test against New Zealand.#NZvIND pic.twitter.com/Ymb8h2BjHb
BCCI (@BCCI) February 28, 2020
But that should not have mattered to India as they had put pitches out of equation long back. Remember when India head coach Ravi Shastri said, “to hell with the pitches” after India whitewashed South Africa in a home series last year.
If you want to read what Shastri’s exact words were, read on.
“Pitch ko nikaalo game se, bhaad mein gaya pitch. 20 wicket nikaalne hain. Chaahe Johannesburg ho, chaahe India ho, chaahe Mumbai ho, chaahe Delhi ho, chaahe Auckland ho. Jidhar bhi…(We need to take 20 wickets and it doesn’t matter if it’s Mumbai, Auckland, Melbourne, anywhere. Once we have taken those 20 wickets, our batting, once it gets going it’s like a smooth-running Ferrari).”
Before the 1st Test in Wellington, Shastri had also called for India to play like the No.1 Test team in the world but despite the verbal boost from their coach, Virat Kohli’s team succumbed to a humiliating 10-wicket loss.
“The other (objective) is to play like the world’s No.1 Test team – because that’s what this team believes in more than anything else. On the Test front, that’s what we’re looking at,” Shastri had said before the Wellington game.
Training day scenes on the eve of the 2nd Test against India at Hagley Oval. #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/lKNaHajYUP
BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) February 28, 2020
But after the drubbing at the hands of New Zealand, Shastri brought pitches back into the picture when asked why India failed to replicate home Test form overseas. Mentioning it was ‘good question’, Shastri answered it by saying ‘red ball is totally different especially in New Zealand and England’.
India have an unbeaten 12-series winning streak at home and 4-successive innings win. They had whitewashed West Indies (2-0), South Africa (3-0) and Bangladesh (2-0) last year.
But after New Zealand broke India’s 5-match winnings streak by handing them their first defeat of World Test Championship, Shastri accepted the loss with utmost grace saying, “We are here not to give excuses, we were outplayed in the first Test. You (New Zealand) were also on a run like we were so a shakeup like this is good. It opens your mindset. when you are winning all the time, you will have a closed or fixed mindset.”
Presenting #TeamIndia‘s new training drill – ‘Turbo Touch’ – by @RajalArora pic.twitter.com/s5APbTNJIB
BCCI (@BCCI) February 28, 2020
And he also tried to justify the loss: “The conditions in the red and white ball are completely different. So if you have toured a country playing in white-ball cricket, the red ball is totally different especially in New Zealand and England. So whether it is any team, they will take a while to acclimatize.”
It was not the first time when Shastri and Virat Kohli made U-turns on their stance. When India defeated Australia 2-1 in the ODI series at home (despite losing all the tosses), Kohli had said his side had taken toss out of context but after losing to New Zealand in the 1st Test last week, the Indian skipper said India were at the rough end of toss.
Talking about the same ODI series win, Shastri boasted of defeating an Australian side that also had liked of Steve Smith and David Warner and took a gid at the critics, saying, “Nobody can say we played an inferior Australia side.” However, when India were whitewashed in the ODI series in New Zealand, Kohli, said the 50-over format was irrelevant to India as their priority was rather World Test Championship and T20Is.
Wins and losses are part and parcel of the game. But India’s attitude after losing, more often than not, seems to stem out of a denial of their deficiencies rather than an honest acceptance of their deep-rooted problems. Goes without saying, that the greatest of sports teams ever assembled didn’t achieve what they eventually did while trying to find petty excuses in the face of defeat. No doubt, Kohli’s India can’t become a great team unless they start following suit.
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