02 August,2011 08:43 AM IST | | Debasish Datta
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has come down hard on Indian batsmen's inability to counter the short-pitched bowling from England.
Abhinav Mukund, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh were casualties of the bouncing ball as India slumped to a humiliating 319-run defeat here at Trent Bridge yesterday.
Mukund gets bounced out by Bresnan. PIC/Getty Images
"If India don't try to improve their batting against short-pitched bowling, they will have similar problems in the latter half of the series," a furious Gavaskar told MiD DAY.
Gavaskar said that there is a technical deficiency in the batsmen's approach towards short-pitched bowling. "If you look at the dismissals of some of the youngsters, the root cause of the problem is that most of them are trying to fend the short ball instead of trying to keep it down. The basic idea is to always try to keep the ball down. With this sort of technique, they are going to continue to suffer," said the batting legend.
Stern warning
West Indies pace legend Michael Holding also blamed India's poor batting technique: "I am sorry but very few Indian batsmen (in this team) seem to know how to play good quality short-pitched bowling. I don't know whether it is inexperience or lack of ability but there is a definite problem."
Holding said that it was important for the youngsters to learn from the senior pros before they call it a day, "Except for VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, there are some serious worries in this batting line-up. If and when they decide to retire, it could be real trouble for India," he said.
