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NEW DELHI: Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali feels Indian players were ‘overconfident’ ahead of the start of the series against New Zealand and that resulted in the hosts succumbing to their first home series loss in 12 years.
After their clinical triumph in the opener in Bengaluru, New Zealand beat India in three days in the second Test in Pune to claim their first-ever series win in India.
Basit said that New Zealand’s 2-0 series loss in Sri Lanka and Rohit Sharma and Co. winning the Bangladesh Test in two days made them overconfident. But the Kiwis did their homework before the India tour and exposed their batting completely in the first two Tests.
“I had said chasing 350-plus will be too difficult. There had to be ton from one of the top three batters. India’s batting got exposed. In the first match, Kiwi pacers took 17 wickets. In the second Test, spinners took 19 wickets. India players were neither able to play pacers well nor spinners. On a track that had pace and bounce (Bengaluru), India lost and on a spinning track, India lost as well,” Basit said on his YouTube channel.
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“The match India won against Bangladesh in two days and New Zealand’s 2-0 defeat in Sri Lanka, the team might have thought they would beat the Kiwis easily. This means, Indian management and Indian players were overconfident. New Zealand did their homework. They had nothing to lose. No one would have thought that the Kiwis might be able to defeat India. Even New Zealand themselves wouldn’t have thought of something like this. But they did their homework,” he added.
The BCCI also recently announced the squad for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy and Basit feels that without Mohammed Shami India will have a lot of problems Down Under.
Basit said that with only Siraj out there along with youngsters, the entire load will be on Jasprit Bumrah on the marquee tour.
“I am surprised (mujhe hairat hai) why there is no Mohammed Shami in the squad for the Australia tour. You have put all the load on Bumrah. Arshdeep (Singh) could have been in the squad because he brings variety. In this team, India’s fast bowling is not complete without Shami. Without Shami, India might face problems in Australia. In Australia, your weapon is fast bowling. India will have problems in Australia,” he said.
The first BGT Test commences from November 22 in Perth.
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