(Cricket News) India’s wait for an ICC trophy continues as Australia comfortably outclass them. Skipper Rohit Sharma after the match said that the team didn’t bat well while coach Rahul Dravid said that they gave away too many runs in the first innings. While both the statements are true the problem is a little bigger than this one. India have reached back-to-back World Test Championship finals which is a good achievement. The men in blue are clearly doing plenty of things right and hence there shouldn’t be an overreaction. There are however things that need to change from the West Indies series. 

In the match, India won the toss and put Australia into bat first. The weather was overcast and the pitch had a grass cover. India should’ve bowled a lot better than they did. The bowlers were too short of length to begin with which meant that the batters could afford to play and miss. Travis Head’s inability to deal with the short ball is very evident and yet India didn’t test him with short balls till he was very well set. As far as batting is concerned India’s top order collapsed due to poor shot selection in both innings. This has been a feature of this team for a long time where the batting hasn’t been good enough.

The decision to leave out Ravichandran Ashwin is up for debate. The spinner would’ve definitely bowled well had he played but going into a match in English conditions with less than four seamers would’ve been dangerous. Umesh Yadav may have played his last international match as it is the right time to move on and get a younger bowler in. Someone like Umran Malik with his raw pace can be extremely useful while Prasidh Krishna after his injury will also be in the mix. A fast-bowling all-rounder has to be groomed but that is easier said than done. Sarfaraz Khan needs to be in the squad for the West Indies series and he has to be groomed well.

The BCCI needs to stop preparing rank turners for home games. Even though they work well for India in getting results the batters suffer a lot. At home conditions is where batters should play well but with the challenging pitches offered, Indian batters don’t get to play big innings. If there are pitches that will make sure that the match goes on for five days is prepared then the batters will benefit. They will get big hundreds and gain confidence which will allow them to perform well overseas. That will also allow fast bowlers to be used more often.

Also read: Manchester City win the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League