Media365
India’s batting collapse in the fourth ODI against New Zealand has prompted serious questions about the team’s approach, with head coach Gautam Gambhir expressing concern over repeated failures and former India opener Aakash Chopra backing his call for greater responsibility from the batters.India endured a disastrous start to their 334-run chase at Mount Maunganui on Friday, losing Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer without scoring by the end of the opening over. Another wicket fell before the end of the sixth over, and the visitors eventually crumbled to 89, suffering a humiliating 244-run defeat. It was India’s second-heaviest loss in ODI cricket.Chopra, analysing the defeat on ESPNcricinfo, echoed Gambhir’s assessment that the Indian batters needed to show greater application rather than surrender against quality bowling.“As Gautam Gambhir mentioned after the match, there are no unplayable deliveries in the game of cricket. Yes, it was great bowling, but you need to be better. And that’s the way to look at it. You can’t completely surrender. You have to find a way. It’s just that it happened so quickly that you really didn’t have the time to recover, regroup, reassess and play differently,” Aakash Chopra said.Much of India’s misery was orchestrated by Matt Henry, who dismantled the top order before completing a six-wicket haul. The New Zealand fast bowler returned figures of 9.4-2-27-6, leaving the Indian batters struggling to cope with his movement and accuracy.Chopra pointed out that Henry’s effectiveness increases considerably in the longer white-ball format, particularly when conditions offer assistance to the new ball.“He didn’t look as menacing in the T20Is. But the moment the format gets longer, there are two new balls, and there’s a bit in the surface, that’s when Matt Henry becomes a very difficult bowler to negotiate early on when the ball is new. When you see the ball coming out of his hand, there’s hardly any indication of which way it’s going to go after pitching,” Chopra said.Gambhir, meanwhile, made it clear that India’s batting troubles could not be dismissed as an isolated failure. The head coach also referred to the team’s vulnerability during the rain-affected second ODI, when India slipped to 111/7 while pursuing a modest target of 135 before eventually securing victory through the DLS method.The repeated collapses have become a concern for the Indian camp, even though the visitors continue to lead the five-match series 2-1. With the final ODI scheduled at Mount Maunganui on Sunday, Gambhir will be hoping for a more convincing display from his batters.“There’s no benefit to sweeping it under the carpet. It isn’t just this match. Even in the previous match, we were seven down for 111 or 112. Today we lost, so we are talking about it,” Gambhir said in his post-match press conference on Friday.“Yeah, it’s a huge defeat, no doubt about it, but even in the previous match, if you’re chasing 135, and you get seven down for 111, obviously it is a bit of a concern, because yes, there is some help here for the bowlers, so we have to be not only mentally but from the skill point of view we need to be ready as well,” he added.
