Former Australian pacer Brett Lee says that India probably took New Zealand lightly which caused them a 0-3 series defeat at home. It has been more than 10 days since India’s defeat at home but still, it is spoken by many former cricketers and enthusiasts as India lost a series home for the first time since 2012.
Indian batters struggled against New Zealand spinners with left-arm spinners Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel taking turns to inflict destruction in the batting lineup.
An 8-wicket defeat in Bengaluru, followed by a 113-run defeat broke India’s stunning home record. Indian batters tried to force themselves on the New Zealand bowlers.
The tactics didn’t pay off as the team was dismissed for an underwhelming score on more than one occasion. Lee feels that this intent could have had something to do with India’s complacency, given their record at home.
“Is it a T20 issue? Were the batsmen too attacking? Is it a skill issue? Is it a problem with them not taking the Kiwis too seriously? I think yes, on all formats.”
“They went into the series thinking that we’ll just whitewash the Kiwis, thinking that’s going to be an easy series. And that’s no disrespect to the Kiwis. It’s just that India are so powerful, so strong on home soil,” Lee said on his YouTube channel.
India cricket team has been going through ups and downs after the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph.
Since Gautam Gambhir made Indian head coach, they won several series including 3-0 T20I win against Sri Lanka, 2-0 test win and 3-0 T20I win against Bangladesh, but has also suffered 0-3 ODI loss against Sri lanka and 0-3 Test defeat against Kiwis.
Although they struggle, it is believed that India will be confident on making the win in the Border Gavaskar trophy.
“This is a great learning curve for all out there. Probably not for Aussies because now they’ve got to understand that India will be much-better prepared. They are going to come in strong.”
“They would have got a kick up the backside from their coach, Gautam Gambhir. This is atrocious, the way they played but they are still a team of champions. They have had a downfall over the last couple of weeks; it does happen in cricket.”
“But this is the time to turn it into positives. The Kiwis caught India off-guard,” Brett Lee added.
Lee also spoke about the poor form of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, as both struggled to bat this year. He proposed the duo to take time off, refresh, and focus on refining their techniques ahead of the Australia series.
“When you have a couple of bac runs back-to-back, that’s when the pressure could set in. I guess the thing now is someone like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma just have to go back to the drawing board.”
“Work on that technique, freshen up, get away from cricket as much as they can and then hit the ground running when they go to Australia, because i can promise you – these Australia fast bowlers will attack Rohit Sharma with that brand new ball,” said Brett Lee.
With India’s WTC final spot at stake, Brett Lee believes India will comeback stronger and well-prepared for the upcoming series against Australia. The first match of the AUS-IND test begins on November 22 at Perth Stadium.
