Mohammad Kaif highlights what went wrong for India in Test series against South Africa

Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif feels the team management doesn’t know what is going wrong for the team after their 0-2 series loss against South Africa. India were hammered by a huge margin of 408 runs in the second Test match at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati on Wednesday.

Kaif slammed the team’s think tank for forcing Ravichandran Ashwin to retire. Furthermore, the former UP batter questioned the team for playing on a rank turner in Kolkata and then, after the loss, quickly changing their strategy to play on a featherbed in Guwahati.

Mohammad Kaif said on his YouTube Channel, “There is no simple answer for this. There are 2-3 answers for this and everyone knows it. I feel the ones who are running the team they don’t know what is going wrong. The ones from the outside know what is wrong. When India lost the first Test on a turning track, the strategy was changed only after one match. They played on a better track in Guwahati where there was a bit of a grass. This short-term planning is hurting us. Senior players are absent. They told Ravichandran Ashwin that we won’t be able to find a place for you in the eleven, so he retired.

Kaif highlighted that the players are also not given a consistent run to prove their mettle at the top level.

“Hardly any batter could find their feet in India against Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Washington Sundar was brought but he is not even half the bowler of what they were. Seniors were removed but they are not able to compensate for them. Even the new players are not being given consistent chances. So, there is not one thing to pinpoint here. It is a mix of several things going wrong.”

On the other hand, Kaif recalled that former Indian captain Virat Kohli had said the right thing when he asked the BCCI to have fixed five Test centers in the country.

“The pitch at Guwahati was indeed good. They should draw a line on such a pitch. Last year, they lost to New Zealand in Bengaluru, where the pitch had some moisture in it. They lost the next two Tests on turning wickets. Virat Kohli had said the right thing – there should be specific Test centres and they need to decide what type of conditions to play on. We don’t know what pitches to play on, that’s where we are getting exposed. From a turning track, we went to a sporting wicket. Why? Because we don’t know which conditions we can win on. If you lose on a turning wicket, you should say, ‘we will win the next game on a turner itself’. We are shifting from conditions overnight and there is no fixed planning whatsoever.”

India will next take on South Africa in a three-match ODI series.