India, playing at home, for the first time ever, in its cricket history, lost all the three matches in the test series against New Zealand today. The last time it was whitewashed was by the South African test team headed by Hanse Cronje in 2000, that was 2-0, under Sachin Tendulkar!

India has lost three Tests in a series (five Tests or longer) on five different occasions, with the last of it coming in 1983 against the West Indies.

This series against New Zealand is the worst series by India, I have ever followed in my life. I am sure, it will be so for most of the followers of the Indian Cricket – 3-0, complete whitewash by a New Zealand that is also in the process of rebuilding with new players stepping in. Discipline and focused approach, has been the hallmark of this Kiwi team.

The Blues, scheduled to head to the most challenging frontier of cricket, Australia, to play a 5-match test series this month, have to sit and clinically analyze this series against New Zealand, as they not only lost on the pacier pitch in Bangalore, but also tailor-made spin friendly pitches of Pune and Mumbai! The Australian series is a longer one, and always a taxing one for all players, both for the mind and the body, with the last couple of series seeing a few Indian players leaving the battle field with bruises and niggles mid-way through the series.

Here are my takes, based on what I have learnt watching these three matches…

BATTING

• Poor Shot selections by Indian top order, absolute surrender in all the tests, without even a single good stand between any two of them, lead to such a disastrous result.
• Utter failure of the leading batters, especially Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli – none applied themselves – Wanting to dominate bowlers with aggression cannot be the way in a test match, and that played into the bowlers hands.
• Too often, rash, impetuous shots were played – can you imagine playing reverse sweeps in first five overs of a test match that has five days to go!

• Too much of T20 matches has impacted the mindset of batters – 20 overs Vs 150 overs – the mindset has to be very different; approach has to be different.
• White ball style play is not of any value in a five-day test

• Read the situation of the game and then play, which they never did
• Must know when and how to wear the opposition down, make the opposition work hard – New Zealand did this clinically
• If you do not get a couple of good stands, and you lose a few wickets in every session, how will you ever make good scores. In all the three test matches, Indians were second to the Kiwis.
• Playing spinners from within the crease, trying to sweep most of the times is a sure way to play into the hands of the spinners – through LBWs or Scooped catches… You need to step out, reach to the pitch of the ball and play, using your feet…practice, practice and practice…

Captain’s role – Toss, Batting, Bowling and field settings

• Choosing to bat first by Rohit sharma, on a cloudy day suitable for the fast bowling conditions in Bangalore and that subsequent Indian collapse in the first hour, gave a boost to New Zealanders and the NZ team rode on that spirit right through the series.
• Captain’s Batting
  • And being the opener, has a great responsibility of setting the platform
• • Impetuous batting with a desire to set the dominating mindset has not helped
• • Not a single big score – it was needed from Rohit, all the more, with half of the batsmen in the team being young and relatively new to the International arena and are still establishing themselves

• Bowling and FIELDING
  • Need to be aware of the situation and bring the bowlers, set the field
• • All the spinners can learn a lot from how Ajaz, Philips and Santner flight the ball
• • Pushing the ball faster through the air may help in slowing the flow of runs but will not induce any doubt in the batter’s mind;
• • Give flight to the ball and make the batter guess
• • India did not attack, such poor bowling changes and  
• • Bad field placements – place a long on, long off, and keep the 4–5-member cordon around the bat, keep flighting the ball and wickets will follow.
  • Changing the bowlers to unsettle the batsmen is a must – Seamers hardly bowled

Coach’s role

• What is the role of the coaching staff especially Gautam Gambhir? Is aggression the only way?
• Gautam Gambhir lost both the Sri Lankan One day series and now NZ test series – Need to be a team enabler, cannot be a lone angry young warrior
• In T20 you have to just play an over or two, go bang, bang and bang…can tests be played so? Losing test matches within 3 or 4 days?
• Does winning trophies for KKR in T20 is going to be of any value in winning 50over or a Test match
• Poor selection by the board to bring in the hot-headed Gambhir as a coach!!