India down with a leadership crisis at the moment, feel Gulf News experts
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00:00As much as I do, I rather would not put the blame game on India. I would rather give it to England.
00:05Because they went for wickets. They did not play defensive cricket. They attacked. They bought
00:10Jack Leach to bowl to Stokes. Who would probably do this? And when you take risk, you get rewarded.
00:16Sometimes you get hit. But no risk, no reward. And England has earned this victory by the way of
00:22taking risk. Hello, good evening. Welcome to a special episode of Straight Bat with Mr. Cricket
00:28UAE and Gulf News. With me, I've got the man himself, Mr. Cricket, Anees Sajan. And we'll
00:36also be joined by cricket enthusiast, Sahil, in a short while from now. Now, it's not difficult
00:42to assume why we have gathered today. We have just gotten over what had been a fantastic
00:48example of test cricket. I'll come back to you, Anees. We have been saying that
00:56this is the new England who have been playing their baseball cricket. How do some of this
01:02test match? I mean, India, 132 runs ahead in the first innings. Still, England didn't let
01:10their self-belief down. How do you sum it up, Anees? Thank you, Gautam. And hello to all the
01:15beautiful people of Gulf News. You're right, Mr. Gautam. Like they say, this is the new England.
01:21But one thing is saying it and the other thing is executing it. You know what, Gautam? We all
01:27have been watching test matches now for how many years? Maybe probably me at least for 30-35 years.
01:32And we've always loved this sport as a purist watching test cricket in the way it has to be
01:39played. But this new England team under Brendan McCullum and Brendan Stokes believe in enjoying
01:45the moment and winning it and putting a fear in the opposition camp that whatever target you post,
01:53we are going to damn chase it. And that is what they did it not only against New Zealand in the
01:57first three test matches and boy, 375 is no mean target. They chase it as it was walk in the park.
02:04Absolutely. I mean, I would reckon that you will feel that looking back, the seed of this,
02:10you know, this record chase was actually sold in those three test matches against
02:14New Zealand. I mean, all 250 plus chases, which is never easy when you're batting in the fourth
02:20innings. So what did the trick? We all know that, you know, McCullum, the kind of cricket huge advice.
02:27But it was a joint effort by McCullum and Stokes. And we do also feel that, you know,
02:35trying to take everyone on board, like trying to take Anderson and Broad on board, the moment
02:41Stokes came back. These are some of the little, little factors which, you know, revamped the
02:46team spirit and the dressing room again. Very important, Gautam. And I'm glad you asked me
02:51this question that how it can just turn around in this matter of just Brendan McCullum joining it.
02:56He doesn't have a magic wand where he's just come here and you know, like we've done a round of
03:01magic wands in front of the team and the team has delivered. This same England team before this was
03:06in West Indies, where they lost 1-0. They lost in Australia 4-0. They lost in India 3-1. And when
03:13India went there, they had gone down to India 2-1 before that pandemic struck. So what triggered?
03:19Well, yes, first and foremost, like they got the big boys Anderson and Broad on board, gave them
03:24the confidence that, no, you are the bowlers, we are going to back you. Then most importantly,
03:29the batsmen, whether it is the likes of Crawley, the Lees or the guys following them,
03:36they gave them the confidence, especially Johnny Bairstow, mind you, he had a couple of hundreds,
03:41one in West Indies and one in Australia. But England were playing that fearful cricket so far.
03:47But they gave them the belief, no matter what happens, you go and enjoy and express yourself
03:53and you're going to win test matches. And again, I'm repeating Gautam, saying it is one thing and
03:57doing it is another thing and chasing 300 runs four times and the way they have chased it,
04:03it's making mockery of the opposition. Right. You know, at the end of the day,
04:11the similarity lay in these four wins had been in chases. Now, is it a kind of mindset? I know like
04:19Bairstow after that century, you know, after he played the match winner against New Zealand,
04:23he said that this is the mindset I'm getting from IPL. So would you think that there is a kind of
04:30fallout in the way they're chasing, they're not, you know, in fact, Stokes said that, you know,
04:35we would have liked to see if they had given us 450, we would have liked to challenge ourselves.
04:40So this chasing bit, is it a fallout of the white ball cricket or the kind of white ball
04:45cricket they had been playing for around seven years? Well, you can say that, you know, I was
04:49about to come to that point that after the 2015 early World Cup exit in New Zealand, Australia,
04:56where England were knocked off in the league stage, it was Owen Morgan and Andrew Strauss
05:01turned around the team and England was a team to beat. They won almost everything except they lost
05:07in the semifinals to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy and wearing one series or a couple of
05:11series in India. They beat everybody with that fearless cricket. They changed the way one day
05:15cricket was played. And I remember Morgan telling to me very clearly that they had taken a leaf out
05:20of Brendan McCullum's cricket. And now there is no, it's not coincidence that Brendan McCullum has
05:25taken charge of the England team. And yes, he has come with a plan that boys go and enjoy, go and
05:32express yourself. And one more line did Stokes add, it's not just about going bang, bang, it's about
05:38playing cricket with proper mindset. But again, I said that when you say that you say that you go
05:44and enjoy, express yourself, but unless you play that fearless cricket, which some of you saw Ben
05:49Stokes throwing his wicket away, at one time, you feel what's going on. But this is not going to
05:53happen every time. They are ready for that. But what is important is that they have the belief
05:59and they back the players to the court. Right. Well, I mean, this kind of brings us to
06:07the Indian cricket team a bit. I mean, before we again move to England, because we need to
06:13give the credit where it's due. But having said that, you know, the team that you know,
06:19seven months, eight months back, I'd like to start from there, the team which went there and came back
06:24with 2-1 when they came to UAE to play the IPL. There had been a change at the helm. I mean,
06:31there had been, you've changed the captain, you've changed the coach, though, for all practical
06:36purposes, there seems to be a bit of a leadership crisis now in the Indian team in both formats.
06:42So how, what has, you know, what has gone wrong? I mean, why is this team, despite that, you know,
06:47bravado from Rishabh Pant, despite, you know, Cheteshwar Pujara playing like himself in the
06:54second innings, what went wrong? I mean, I will come to the way they batted, you know, they took
07:00the match away on the fourth afternoon. But before that, do you think what went wrong? I mean,
07:06was all these changes for the better?
07:09Well, Gautam, and I want to welcome Sahil, who has also joined us on the show. But
07:16what you've asked is a very valid point that what has gone wrong with Indian team. Now,
07:21to be very honest, when you look at the flip side, when you put 375 runs on the board,
07:26you would say Bumrah has done everything right, to be very honest, from the beginning,
07:30when he hit 35 runs of Stuart Broad, picked up three early wickets to give India that good start,
07:36bowled England out, got a lead of 130, and then 375 on the board, it looked all rosy.
07:42But in hindsight, you know, we could see that there was something lacking in the captainship.
07:48I don't want to put the blame on Jasprit Bumrah, to be very honest, for this loss. But India were
07:53rattled, India had no idea what to go about. There were three captains on the field. Jasprit
07:58Bumrah is the good boy of the Indian team. And then we had the Virat Kohli putting up his view
08:03in his ears. Then we had the Rishabh Pans. And of course, Shreyas Iyer and others handling. So,
08:09you know, when you are captained by five players on the field, it's not that easy. So I don't know
08:14what would have happened if Rohit Sharma would have captained, you know, it's now easy to make
08:17assumptions. But Indian team has been hampered by the chaos, what they created by the sacking
08:24of Virat Kohli as an ODI captain, which led him to leave his test cricket captainship.
08:31And we can all see, we lost in South Africa. Mind you, you know, in both the test matches,
08:37we were ahead, but we lost in South Africa, you know, we couldn't defend 245. And today again,
08:43375, we couldn't say. So, like England has built a team about confidence, India's confidence,
08:49I'm afraid, have gone ground. They've already from number one become number two,
08:52and they are chasing probably the World Test Championship points now.
08:57Right. On that note, I welcome Sahil into the show. Sahil, I remember you had put in your money
09:05on India and quite rightly so. I mean, honestly, the first three days, they were very much in the
09:12fight, the way they resurrected that first innings itself, there was, you know, a lot of hope that
09:18they can indeed come back with a series win after 2007. Where did it start falling apart,
09:25Sahil? Was it the fourth afternoon? What do you reckon?
09:28I mean, you can clearly see from the match, if you saw the test match, everything was going right
09:33for India. They were on track, you know, they scored a 400 and then they had a lead of 130.
09:39And then for England's second innings, I think what, first of all, for India, only scoring 245
09:44in the second innings, which is not right. They should have had a lead of 450 to be on the safer
09:48side because we know the brand of cricket England has developed under Brendan McCullum. But, you know,
09:55when England were 109 for three, Pope got out, Alex Lees got run out. You saw India on track.
10:01But then they were playing bowling well too, Root and Basto, you know, they were at it for a while.
10:07And then everything went wrong after that drop catch of Ihari. He dropped the series and I blame
10:11the fielder. You should not drop such catches. Even Pant dropped one, but that was tough.
10:16But Vihari dropped the series and I will blame him for this loss after that drop catch. It was
10:21tough. It strayed on his hands. It came really quickly, but he should have taken it.
10:26There are no excuses for that.
10:29Right. Yeah, I mean, that catch will really come back to haunt Vihari because I believe
10:35Basto was for that. But then, you know, how that evening panned out. I mean, there was
10:42a bit of, you know, sameness about the Indian attack, you know, when batting became so easy
10:49and these two were really milking it, playing some sensible cricket. Do you think once again,
10:55I would like to bring back the Ashwin factor here. Would you have liked to see him in place
11:01of Shardul Thakur? Because what was Shardul's contribution?
11:07Absolutely not. No, no, no. I mean, I'd stick with Shardul Thakur. He had done well in the
11:12four tests. Why would India want to drop Shardul Thakur? Yes, he did not make much of a difference.
11:18He did not do that well with the ball. He got Ben Stokes out in the first innings,
11:23but he did not make a difference with the bat. You know, now it's easiest to say like,
11:27oh, why didn't Ashwin play? No, Thakur should have played. He had done well in the series. He
11:32had got Root out earlier in the one of four test matches. So I'm pretty sure he deserved to play.
11:38Yes, he did not have a good game. So it's easier said than done, like, oh, Ashwin should have
11:42played. Right, right. Well, I'll come to Anisbhai once again. Anisbhai, now this Indian team,
11:53in the test team especially, suddenly you see a number of holes appearing. I mean,
12:00now Shubman Gill has failed in both the innings. Cheteshwar Pujara at best. I mean, of course,
12:05Rohit Sharma is going to come in there. Virat, again, this had been the old quandary. I mean,
12:11the more we say about it, it seems to be leading nowhere with two efforts of 11 and 20. First
12:17innings, the dilemma with which he went about that shot. I mean, he looked like leaving it,
12:23and then he finally had to nudge at it. So there are a number of holes here. And has the role of
12:31Rahul Dravid suddenly become tougher, Anisbhai? Because you see, he has been at it for nearly
12:37seven, eight months now. Well, Gautam, again, a very good question put by you that the guys like
12:46the Shubman Gills, the Ayers, and I'm afraid Virat Kohli's, I would use the word, bad run of
12:53not scoring a hundred or not scoring big for India is hurting India big time. And with Rahul
12:59Dravid coming in the last seven months, you've seen five, six captains being replaced one after
13:04the other, be it for injury or be it for the chaos which has been created by the Indian think tank.
13:11But, you know, now, there will be fingers pointed out if India keep going down like this. Okay,
13:17you can win at home with spinning tracks and dominate the opposition, but a good side's
13:24performance will be only seen when you win abroad. Okay, India won in Australia, India has not won
13:29in South Africa, but India came close beating to South Africa. India were almost as good as winning
13:34against England. So this was built under Virat Kohli's captainship. Mind you, he's the only
13:38captain who's won 40 test matches. And I still want to come to the point which you asked me
13:43earlier, and which we have discussed earlier, why would you say that it is too much of a captainship
13:49when Virat Kohli himself said, I want to step down as T20 because he was not successful and he gave
13:54it up. So why would you drop him as an ODI captain, just because he doesn't want to continue T20.
14:01And of course, if I am Virat Kohli and who has done wonders for Indian cricket, it's going to
14:05hit him hard. And that's the reason he let the test captainship go away.
14:12Yes, he has not been scoring runs. But what was important, Mr. Gautam, Indian team was doing well.
14:17Now same thing, Miss Ben Stokes was not doing well. He scored probably I think one innings of
14:2250-60, that too he was bold of a no ball, but they backed him. So when a team is doing well,
14:27why would you try to rub in and make the team go haywire? Indian team was absolutely on track,
14:33the number one team for almost three years. India was dominating test cricket left, right and
14:37center. Yes, at home, but also at abroad. So why would you finger it? And I'm afraid, what is the
14:43fitness of Rohit Sharma? We don't know how it is going to go on. It's already 35. Are you thinking
14:48about the Rishabh Pants to take up the test captainship? No, test captainship doesn't come
14:53like this on a platter, you need to build it. And I'm afraid now India will have to do a lot
14:57of rebuilding. I don't think Virat Kohli is going to take up the test captainship.
15:00It's going to go downhill for India till India come back as a new India, which I am afraid it
15:05will not. Right. A number of questions there. I'll come to, you know, just looking forward.
15:15The issue is there is not much time to think. I mean, today, I think the first of the T20s is on
15:22the 7th. So I'll come to Sahil. Sahil, you see, once again, when it comes to T20,
15:29it's a different ball game. But then you've got an England team, I mean, who has been playing
15:35there. It's a kind of a role reversal from the white ball cricket with the kind of
15:41panache that they've been playing there. So in that series, Sahil, do you think India can kind of
15:48stage a turnaround? These are short series, I mean, with small margins, I mean, 3-3 matches.
15:53What do you feel, Sahil? How is that going to pan out, the two white ball series?
15:58Yeah, why not? Why can't India turn it around? You know, India are good in all three formats,
16:04be it T20, ODI and Test cricket. So why not? Yes, England are one of the best team in T20 cricket.
16:10But definitely, I'm going to back India also because they have a good squad. Yes, India are
16:16the only team, actually not only India, India and England rotate their team a lot now. Since in the
16:21past few years, we've been seeing that India and England both have been rotating the teams a lot.
16:25So let's see what happens. It's going to be a good series. It's more about, you know, getting
16:29some good practice for the World Cup. And we'll see how the big guns play. And we know how the
16:34English have turned the T20 game around. Likes of Howard Morgan, who has retired now,
16:39Johnny Besto, Jason Roy, these people have changed the modern game.
16:45Right. Yeah, no amount of praise is enough for the short time. And even in that England-West
16:51Indies series, this England team looked, you know, there were too many rifts in the team.
16:56So the turnaround had been really thick and fast. But before, you know, closing shop,
17:02I'll again come back to Anisbhai once more. Anisbhai, now in two years, around the same time,
17:08this June-July, India have let go their moments. They didn't, you know, seize their moments in
17:15the first World Test Championship final. And now this one, well, you know, a lot of brownie
17:21points could have come with it. This one in particular, do you think there was a question of,
17:26you know, the mindset left a certain amount of desire, you know, that of playing a crucial
17:32test match? Very fair, Gautam. The last World Test Championship, which we lost in New Zealand,
17:39almost three days were robbed because of brain. And the first innings was even where we had leaked
17:44probably 30-40 runs as a lead to the New Zealanders. But it's just that on the last day,
17:50when the sun came out, India probably played brainless cricket. I remember India by two down,
17:55going into the last day with 60 for two and leading by 27 runs. They went hell for leather.
18:00I had no idea what was happening in the test match. They could have easily saved a test match
18:05by playing sensible cricket because they had nothing to gain. They wouldn't have won the
18:09test match by setting New Zealand a target of 200. But they did not learn from it. And again,
18:17this was another opportunity in the series against the last test match, where the series was
18:22unlined. They had not won a series against England from 2006. And this was a golden opportunity. And
18:28they had seen what New Zealand had done, what mistakes New Zealand had done. And we could have
18:32easily batted England out. But you hear, as much as I do, I rather would not put the blame game
18:39on India. I would rather give it to England because they went for wickets. They did not play
18:43defensive cricket. They attacked, they bought Jack Leach to bowl to Stokes. Who would probably do this?
18:49And when you take risk, you get rewarded. Sometimes you get hit, but no risk, no reward. And England
18:55has earned this victory by the way of taking risk. Right. Thank you so much, Anisbhai. Thank you, Sahil.
19:03I think, yes, it was nice that we could catch up on an occasion like this.
19:08Thank you. Thanks to the viewers for tuning in. Thank you and good night.
19:15Thank you, Mr. Gautam. Thank you, Sahil. Thank you to all the lovely people. Bye-bye.