Legendary India player and former head coach Anil Kumble has raised serious concerns over the team’s batting struggles in their 3-0 Test series loss to New Zealand. He highlighted that the main challenge for the Rohit Sharma-led team is to accept the fact that there is a problem to be solved in the batting department. Chasing 147 to win at the Wankhede Stadium, India were bowled out for 121 as they slipped to a clean sweep in a home Test series for the first time since 1999/2000.

Rishabh Pant’s counter-attacking 57-ball 64 was the only notable effort in another woeful batting performance by the hosts. It also didn’t help India that captain Rohit Sharma (91 runs in six innings) and Virat Kohli (93 runs in six innings) failed to get big runs in the series, as New Zealand exposed India’s weaknesses by batting against off-spinners. . -friendly conditions.

“This has happened consistently over the last three test matches. Every time the spinners have been turned on, there has been no noticeable improvement from game to game. A couple of players have made certain adjustments, which has helped in the line-up of batting. But collectively, as a batting unit, they have not been able to avoid those collapses.

“This has happened too often in a single session, which is concerning. For this lineup to say, ‘There’s nothing wrong,’ I think there’s something very wrong here. The most challenging part is accepting that there is a problem. I’m I am sure that when this Indian team sits down and reflects, they will recognize that there is indeed a serious problem that needs to be addressed,” Kumble said on JioCinema and Sports18.

Former India wicketkeeper-batsman and selector Saba Karim has urged the Indian team to go back to the drawing board and see where they went wrong with the bat against New Zealand.

“If you look at the three Test matches, they finished in two or three days; there was rain in Bengaluru, so the game ended on the fifth day. These are our conditions, and we should have prepared them in a way that we could have played at least three or four sessions.

“This is a big indication that Indian batting has been a failure throughout the series. When you set up a wicket like this, you can’t think that only you will win the toss and bat first; you have to be prepared for all scenarios. I think the Indian team is at a stage where they really need to think hard and go back to the drawing board.

“There were outstanding performances with the ball, with Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja stepping up, but the batting is equally important. I think throughout the three matches, the Indian batsmen were in a hurry to put runs on the board, and here that was. It’s not really necessary.”

Kumble signed off appreciating Glenn Phillips rising to support Ajaz Patel from the other end to make a fine stand of 147 on the third day of the third Test. “We knew spin would also play a big role in New Zealand’s innings. Ajaz Patel was expected to be the danger man for India, and he certainly was.

“But what was surprising, and more important for New Zealand, was the support from the other side’s bowler, Glenn Phillips. I thought he played very well, sticking to disciplined areas.

“Of course, they were under pressure when Rishabh Pant was in the box, but other than that, New Zealand seemed confident that if they could dismiss Pant, they would have a great chance. And that’s exactly how it played out.”