Former India batter Mohammad Kaif has lashed out at the Men in Blue following their stunning 1-wicket defeat to Bangladesh in the first ODI on Sunday. Mohammad Kaif, the hero of India's NatWest Trophy triumph two decades ago, was critical of both their batting and bowling. In the bowling department, he was particularly concerned about the lack of death bowlers as the Rohit Sharma-led Team India couldn't complete the victory despite having Bangladesh on the mat.
The Bangladeshis were on the verge of defeat when a 10th-wicket partnership between Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mustafizur Rahman turned the tide in their favor.
With 51 runs still needed to win, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mustafizur Rahman defied the odds to secure a shock 1-wicket triumph over their much larger subcontinental neighbor during the weekend.
“It was India's game, they had taken nine wickets. The bowling was excellent, they got India back into the game after the batters had a bad day. The bowling covered up for that until the 40th over, but the last 10 overs, who is our death bowler? Is it Deepak Chahar or Kuldeep Sen?” Mohammad Kaif noted during an interaction on Sony Sports.
“We dropped catches. KL Rahul doesn't keep that often. He is a good fielder, he ran out Litton Das with a direct hit from the deep in the T20 World Cup. Sundar didn't dive to try and take the catch,” he added.
“The fielders were seen under pressure. We made mistakes under pressure. We bowled wide balls and no-balls. You have to overcome pressure if you have to win the World Cup. That is how a team emerges, whether you talk about New Zealand or England, who are at the top in white-ball cricket.”
“I am disappointed that we are crumbling under pressure. You can talk about captaincy or bowling changes. The game went well until the 40th over, but then came Mehidy Hasan Miraz and showed the Bangladesh batters how to play. But I feel the young bowlers couldn't finish the game in the last 10 overs,” Mohammad Kaif pointed out.
Before Mohammad Kaif, cricket pundit Ajay Jadeja accused Team India of disrespecting the game. He claimed that Rohit Sharma and his men lacked commitment on the field and that's why the result was not in their favor.
“There is too much analysis these days, it has almost become paralysis. If you decide before a World Cup how you are going to play, then that's what happened in today's conditions. You will get out, you will make mistakes but it would have been different if you had gotten out fighting for 50 overs,” a highly disappointed Ajay Jadeja told Sony Sports.
“Then I would have said the bowling was very good. But it is not that a bowler got you out. You never went into the defensive mode. You are still in the attacking mode and even your tail was not left to play 20% of the game,” the former India batter added.
“You are pre-empting the reading of the game and you have pre-decided that you want to play like that. The game is not that easy, you have to respect it daily. This game has a specialty that conditions dictate the play. This will happen if you don't respect the game,” Ajay Jadeja claimed.
“That is why there is slightly more disappointment. It is not the first or last time they have gotten out, it would have been understandable if you had been dismissed 10 overs early while defending but if you are in attacking mode and left 15 overs in the game, somewhere or the other they lacked in the thinking and not in the game,” Ajay Jadeja summed up.
Mohammad Kaif, on the other hand, also had harsh words to share for Rohit Sharma who has been out of touch for the past couple of months.
“You have to bat well. We are talking a lot about the bowling, they batted badly. We lost the match because of batting. We need runs from Virat Kohli. We need runs from Rohit Sharma the captain. Rohit Sharma has not been in form as a captain, he has not been able to score regularly,” Mohammad Kaif said.
Earlier, former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim raised questions about Rohit Sharma's poor captaincy.
“If we analyze our bowling at the end, the right lengths were not bowled. There are some question marks over Rohit Sharma’s captaincy as well. There should be some talk about it. According to me, his captaincy was a bit clueless,” Saba Karim told India News.
“India looked very complacent after Bangladesh were nine down. They thought they had 50 runs to defend and the batters would not be able to get them. No one seemed bothered as Bangladesh got easy ones and twos. There was no urgency and the complacency eventually hurt India,” the former Indian wicketkeeper concluded.
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