Senior India player lashes out at Ravi Shastri, questions his accountability
Criticism is coming from all directions for the Indian team after their dismal performance in the Test series in England. Harbhajan Singh is the latest one to join the list of former and current India players to have raised concerns about Team India's strategy in the Lords Test.
Harbhajan was even more critical about Coach Ravi Shastri and his role in the team. Ravi Shastri made a huge statement before the series that the pitches and conditions in England won't affect his team performance. "For us there is no away, every game is a home game because we don't play the opponent, we play the pitch. Our job is to conquer the pitch wherever we go," Shastri had said before to the start of the tour.
Shastri had also reiterated that the team will play aggressive brand of cricket. Shastri had said in a press conference before the England tour "We are aggressive. We play to win. Even in this series, we are playing to win. We are not here to draw games or fill in the numbers. We play every game to win and take the game forward. And if in trying to win we lose a game, tough luck. As long as we win more than we lose, we are happy."
Harbhajan, the veteran off-spinner, has demanded Shastri to speak up.
"The coach has to come on record, today or tomorrow he has to speak up. He is answerable to everyone. If India loses the series, then he might have to eat his words and admit that conditions do make a lot of difference" Harbhajan said after India's Lords debacle.
He also added that “We haven’t showed any intent to fight back. The willingness to win is missing and that is most disheartening. We are losing without posing any challenge to the opponent. It is extremely disappointing.”
Questioning team management's selection tactics Harbhajan said “On foreign tours, a good opening partnership makes such a huge difference but in every match our opening pair is getting changed. In every game, the playing eleven is getting changed. Even the middle order isn’t set. At the Lord’s, we had a green wicket and overcast conditions but the team management decided to play two spinners. Was it really needed? The hosts could have been all out for 160-170 if a third seamer in Umesh had played instead of an extra spinner.”
Harbhajan also demanded clarity on Hardik Pandya's role in the side. Pandya's poor batting technique has been exposed in English conditions and his bowling hasn't been impressive either.
On Hardik Pandya’s role in the team, Harbhajan said, “He hasn’t got many runs as a batsman and the captain doesn’t seem to have confidence in his bowling. If he doesn’t bowl in these conditions then things will only get difficult for him and the Indian team in the future. We have to remove the all-rounder tag from him as an all-rounder contributes in both the departments as Stokes, Curran did in the first Test and now Woakes has done at the Lord’s. The same is expected of Hardik Pandya, he cannot become Kapil Dev overnight!”
Criticism is expected after team's poor show but some of the points made by Harbhajan seem relevant and the Indian team should look to work on them and improve their performance in the third Test.