ENG vs IND 2018: India have arrived in England complacently and with arrogance, says Geoffrey Boycott

Boycott is extremely critical of India's planning and preparation for the tour.

Geoffrey Boycott (Getty)

Having seen India's horror batting performance, where they got bundled out for 107 & 130 with the bat and lost the game by an innings and 159 runs at Lord's, former England Cricketer and legend Geoffrey Boycott has said that unless India gets their act together and shows more mental strength and discipline with their game, they are staring down the barrel and could well be whitewashed 5-0 at the end of the series. 

Writing in his column for Daily Telegraph, Boycott stated, "Great teams and great players should not buckle as easily as India did at Lord's just because the ball swings and seams, The whole point of playing cricket in different countries on different pitches and in different climatic conditions is to test your technique, character and ability to adapt." and added, "So far, the Indian players have let themselves and their supporters down. The batting has been so naive and irresponsible, it has bordered on stupidity. Wafting drives at tempting outswingers is thoughtless."

"Test cricket is becoming a ridiculous mismatch with most teams winning at home and failing miserably abroad. India, the No 1 team in the world, have been awful in two Tests." Boycott reiterating the alarming issue for Test Cricket overall noted. 

Boycott then provided a lesson as to what can India's batsmen do better having being bowled out for 162, 107 and 130 in their last three innings on the tour. 

He wrote, "Trying to work straight outswingers through midwicket and then being surprised when you get bowled or nick it to the slips is brainless. Playing the ball on the up in front of your pad is a no-no," emphasizing the need for Indian batsmen to better their technical nuance against the moving ball and added, "These are elementary things you do not do against any decent swing bowler in English conditions. To try to do it to James Anderson, who is one of the great master craftsmen in those conditions, tells me the Indian batsmen have not done their homework. They have not sat down, talked or practiced in the nets and got their heads around how they are going to bat differently in England."

Boycott is also very critical of India for arriving on another overseas Test tour without proper well-detailed planning and preparation. 

"These guys are used to batting on flat, dry, non-bouncing pitches in India and plundering easy runs. The new ball does not do much and the shine does not last long. Batsmen are king and can play lots of shots straight away, India have come to England complacently and arrogantly thinking they can bat the same way and everything will be OK on the day."

"Well, it will not. Any time you do not plan and work at your cricket, the game will kick you up the backside, and India deserve the thrashing they are getting." he concluded. 


(Inputs from Cricket Next)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 14 Aug, 2018

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