Former Pakistan international Basit Ali launched a scathing attack on team India for its poor performance so far in the World Test Championship finale against Australia. The Rohit Sharma-led side looked poor with the ball in the first innings and while batting, the top order once again failed in an ICC knockout match. Notably, Australia are leading by 296 runs at Stumps on Day 3 and it will be very difficult for team India to make any sort of comeback in the remaining two days.
Meanwhile analysing India’s performance so far at The Oval, Basit stated that other than Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja, all the other India players have looked tired in the middle and also criticised Rohit Sharma’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss. He also went on to add that India need a miracle now to win the WTC finale.
“India lost the match the moment they chose to bowl worrying about the first two hours. And the kind of bowling that was on display was just like IPL. By lunch, the Indian bowlers appeared so happy as if they’d won the match. All India can do now is hope to get them out cheaply and hope for a miracle in the fourth innings. During the 120 overs that India fielded, I could see only 2-3 players being fit – Rahane, Kohli and Jadeja. The rest looked tired,” the former batter said on his YouTube channel.
The 52-year-old was brutal while criticising India’s head coach Rahul Dravid and rated him poorly as a coach. He also questioned the kind of wickets India had prepared recently during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home.
“I am a huge Rahul Dravid fan, have always been and will remain. He is a class player, a legend. But as a coach, he is absolutely zero. You prepared turning pitches on India. Just answer me this. When India travelled to Australia, were there similar wickets? They had bouncy pitches, right? God knows what he was thinking. Jab upar wala akal baant raha tha toh pata nahi kaha pahaado ke peeche chhupe huye thhe (God knows where he was when god was distributing brains),” said Ali.