India couldn’t show the discipline required, reckons VVS Laxman
India were again outplayed by New Zealand in the second Test at Christchurch as the hosts won the game by 7 wickets. The Indian batting failed to deliver in any of the innings and thus had to face a 2-0 whitewash. Former Indian batsman VVS Laxman took to Twitter to congratulate the kiwis on their impressive win. He also expressed his view on why exactly the world's number one Test team could not compete in the series.
Laxman tweeted, "Many congratulations to the @BLACKCAPS on beating India and winning the Test series comprehensively. India couldn’t show the discipline required to stick it out and will be deeply disappointed."
Laxman believed that there were too many instances of Indian batsmen throwing their wickets away and not being able to withstand a good spell from the New Zealand pacers. India were 194-4 in the first innings when both Hanuma Vihari and Cheteshwar Pujara decided to play out-of-character strokes and were caught behind. This triggered a collapse which saw them lose 6 wickets for 48 runs.
Also see – MI squad
In the second innings, India had a lead of 7 runs but could only manage to score 124, being 90-6 at the end of play on day two. This gave New Zealand a target of 132 which they chased down comfortably with 7 wickets to spare. This consistent failure of the batting line-up to put enough runs on the board is something that the Indian team will need to address pretty quickly.