Former Australia captain Ian Chappell believes Indian batsmen need to find the right balance between caution and aggression in overseas conditions against the moving ball as was evident with their failings on the disastrous tour to New Zealand.
The visitors, failing to cross the 250-run mark even once, went down heavily in Wellington and Christchurch to be whitewashed 2-0 in the Test series.
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"New Zealand, much like England's seaming surfaces, is a place where caution is required more often than in Australia, where most pitches are extremely true," Chappell wrote for ESPNcricinfo.
"Whatever the cause, at the Basin Reserve it was an abysmal batting effort from the No 1-ranked Test team, who failed to reach 200 in either innings."
"Placing a batting order is not playing a game of 'pin the tail on the donkey'," he added. "It's important to get the balance right and to place players in positions where they are comfortable and hence more likely to succeed."
Cheteshwar Pujara lasted the longest at the crease amid the Indian batsmen against a high-quality New Zealand pace attack. However, Chappell reckons the Indian No.3 should ensure he doesn't get into a shell and is always looking for the scoring opportunity.
"It's hard to be critical of a No 3 who was heavily involved in India beating Australia in 2018-19 with some lengthy stays at the crease anchoring the innings."
"Pujara normally bats behind (Rohit) Sharma and Mayank Agarwal and ahead of Kohli. That's an adequate amount of strokeplay surrounding Pujara, and as a judicious shot maker, he's ideal at No 3 for balance," he wrote.
"Mind you, Pujara needs to be careful he doesn't slip into a net-practice mode and forget that the object in a match is to score runs regularly."
Pujara's second-innings effort at the Basin Reserve was criticised, for it was believed by many that he was lacking intent and putting other batsmen under pressure.
By contrast, the man's first-innings half-century at the Hagley Oval was a fantastic innings, glint with intent defence and delightful strokeplay.
"The other thing that Pujara has to be aware of while batting in the midst of stroke-makers is that he must not keep them at the non-striker's end for long periods. In Christchurch, he found the ideal balance of caution mixed with aggression," Chappell wrote.
(Inputs from PTI)
