Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar India’s lack of preparation for the World Test Championship final was one of the main reasons for the loss.
Dilip Vengsarkar slams India
New Zealand became the World Test Champions by beating India in almost all departments in the finals earlier this week. The defeat of Virat Kohli’s men has led to criticism from many quarters.
Vengsarkar, a former head selector too, said India performed well in the WTC cycle during the last two years, but wasn’t convinced with their game plan for the finals at Southampton.
“They didn’t even play a warm-up game before such a crucial match. On the other hand, the New Zealand players were match fit. They had already played two Tests before the finals,” he said.
The Indian players will now get a three-week break before returning on July 14 to prepare for the five-match Test series against England, which begins on August 4.
Vengsarkar is overall surprised by the team’s plan “ I’m not sure how such a schedule was formed where you have a break in the middle and then return to play Test matches,” he remarked.
The former India batsman believes a week’s rest was sufficient after the WTC final.
On skipper Virat Kohli’s comment after the match that the batsmen should express their intentions, Vengsarkar said the intentions need to be also displayed in terms of the preparations.
“If he’s talking about intentions, then why didn’t the team fully prepare for this match? So, what were your plans back then? At the very least, the team should have played two, four-day matches,” Vengsarkar added.
New Zealand won the World test championship final by eight wickets. Kylie Jamieson was the pick of the bowlers and was rightly chosen as the man of the match.
He took 5 wickets in the first innings. In the second innings, he castled Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, paving the way for New Zealand’s historic win.
