Sunil Gavaskar feels India's poor start in the chase was one of the reasons for their loss

Rohit Sharma fell cheaply on Thursday(Photo Courtesy: BCCI)

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar blamed the Indian top-order for the 6-run loss against New Zealand in the second ODI at New Delhi.The 68-year-old claimed that India never got the right start to the chase and added that the batsmen needed to be more patient in ODIs.

While speaking to NDTV after the match, Gavaskar said, "pressure was on India in the chase right from the beginning. But India did not get the right kind of start. A batsman like Rohit Sharma can take the match away singlehandedly, but he fell early. Same was the case with Virat Kohli. This was one of the reasons why India looked shaky in chase. Also, in ODIs a batsman has time to play the big shots but Indian batsmen did not give themselves that time and got out early."

Gavaskar praised the effort put in by New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, whose 118 helped his team win and earned him the 'Man of the Match.'

“Kane Williamson led from the front and answered his critics in the most emphatic fashion by scoring a century. New Zealand are a good all-round one-day team. One should not forget that they are the World Cup runners-up. they have good batsmen like Williamson, Tom Latham, Martin Guptill and their bowling is also good. Mitchell Santner has been good while their fielding is also outstanding,” he concluded.

Gavaskar also blamed the batsmen for throwing their wickets on a pitch that was good for the batsmen. He pointed out that the batsmen should get their eye in before going for the kill and praised Kane Williamson and Tom Latham for exactly doing that early in their innings.

He said, “the wickets that were provided for the first two ODIs were good batting tracks, but the batsmen got a bit anxious and were too over eager to play the big shots which resulted in them getting out. Even in limited overs format, the batsmen need some time to get going before they go for the big shots. Williamson and Latham applied themselves in at the start and went on to do well once they got their eye in.”

While speaking about Ajinkya Rahane’s dismissal, Gavaskar felt Rahane was unlucky as there was no conclusive evidence for the TV umpire to overturn it. “Rahane was unlucky to get out as the replays suggested two different things. One angle showed that the ball bounced off the ground before Corey Anderson caught it and the other one portrayed it as a clean catch. The on-field umpire’s soft signal was out and the TV umpire needs a conclusive evidence to overturn the decision,” he added.

Both teams now move to Mohali for the third ODI that will take place on Sunday.