IND vs AUS 2020: Dilip Doshi blames T20 cricket for India’s poor performance at Adelaide
Former India cricketer Dilip Doshi has dissected the problems that led to India’s downfall at Adelaide during the 1st India vs Australia Test. Speaking to Indranil Basu on SK Live, Dilip Doshi claimed that poor fielding and too much T20 cricket were some of the reasons which led to India’s disastrous batting collapse in the second innings.
The visitors were bowled out for 36 in the second innings, with none of the India batsmen having an answer to Australia’s searing pace bowling attack. India eventually lost the game by 8 wickets. Dilip Doshi has now claimed the advent of T20 cricket has impacted the batsmen’s footwork while playing the longer format of the game.
“The advent of T20 in the last so many years has led to the downfall of footwork of batsmen all across the world. It’s not India alone. But probably we are guilty of it more because we don’t play first-class cricket at home," said Dilip Doshi.
“Our footwork is quite poor” – Dilip Doshi on India’s batsmen
Expounding further on India's mistakes during the pink-ball Test, Dilip Doshi suggested that Test cricketers in India are shielded from first-class matches. Talking about why footwork is important while playing Test match cricket, Dilip Doshi explained that it helps the batsmen get closer to the ball, thus reducing the chances of getting out.
“Our footwork is quite poor to be very honest. The modern-day great player, their footwork is totally incomparable to the batsmen from before,” Dilip Doshi explained.
A consistent pattern during India’s batting performance on Day 3 was the similar kinds of dismissals which occurred one after the other. Hazlewood and Cummins were consistent with their line and length, with many batsmen edging the ball to wicket-keeper Tim Paine.
While calling out India’s poor footwork, Dilip Doshi admitted that the batsmen played the Australians like it was a T20 match.
“I give full marks to the Australians for having bowled superbly on that pitch. But we kept on falling for it. We are staying, we are opening our feet and the stance as if we are playing T20 cricket,” he said.
Dilip Doshi also criticised India’s poor fielding performance in the 1st Test
Poor fielding has been a recurring theme for the Indian team throughout the tour and the dropped catches during the 1st Test came back to haunt the visitors.
The Indian fielders gave Australian batsmen such as Marnus Labuschagne and Tim Paine multiple lifelines. Dilip Doshi has pointed out how that helped in increasing the confidence of the home side.
“We fielded very poorly and allowed the Australians to narrow the lead, which gave them life back. Captain Tim Paine played a very sterling knock, but we kept on losing chance after chance and I couldn’t understand how that (poor fielding) can happen at that level so frequently,” he concluded.
Dilip Doshi is not the first former cricketer or analyst to call out India’s poor fielding or batting performance from the 1st Test. The pressure is high on the Indian team ahead of the Boxing Day Test.
Ajinkya Rahane and his men will be hoping that they can bounce back in imperious fashion and win the Melbourne Test, just like they did the last time India toured Australia in 2018-19.