Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali slammed the Indian team management for their decision making in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia.
Team India find themselves in a spot of bother with Australia in control of the proceedings at The Oval. Before the start of play on Day 4, India trailed Australia by 296 runs, after having conceded 469 runs in the first innings. While ananlysing the match, Ali said India lost the match the moment when they decided to bowl.
The 52-year-old also criticised India head coach Rahil Dravid, saying that the legendary batter is “zero as a coach”.
“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,” Ali said on his YouTube channel.
Ali, who played 19 Tests and 50 ODIs for Pakistan, added that India now need a miracle to beat Australia and win the WTC mace.
“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,” he added.
