India to probe Test debacle in England
India’s cricket chiefs said on Saturday they will review their team’s
disastrous Test series in England where Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men lost
the number one Test ranking.
“We will of course review the performance of the cricketers after the
tour and will do what needs to be done,” Board of Control for Cricket in
India (BCCI) secretary Narayanswami Srinivasan said.
“But at the moment a tour is going on and a one-day series will
follow the Tests. So we should not jump the gun,” Srinivasan told the
Indian Express newspaper.
England, needing to win the four-Test series by a 2-0 margin or
better to dethrone India from top spot in the official rankings, raced
to a 3-0 lead with a game in hand.
The hosts proved their overwhelming superiority over the lacklustre
Indians by winning the first Test by 196 runs, the second by 319 runs
and the third by a whopping innings and 242 runs on Saturday.
Andrew Strauss’ men are hot favourites to complete a clean sweep when
the final Test starts at the Oval in London on Thursday.
Srinivasan said the absence of key players such as Virender Sehwag,
Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh at various
times during the series due to injuries cost India dearly.
With everybody fit, we believe the series would have been a lot
closer.”
AFP
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