Former New Zealand all-rounder Craig McMillan disagreed with head coach Rahul Dravid that the Indian cricket team declared at the right time in the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur.
Team India declared their second innings on 234/7, setting New Zealand a target of 284 in a little more than 90 overs, but with light fading early on all four days at Green Park in Kanpur, many felt the hosts should have declared a few overs earlier.
However, Dravid defended the decision by saying "we timed the declaration well," but McMillan feels India missed a trick by declaring late on Day 4, as the hosts could have gone 1-0 up in the ongoing two-match Test series against New Zealand if they called off their second innings earlier in Kanpur.
McMillan told Cricket.com, “I have to disagree. And I guess whenever you’re left short of time for one wicket – New Zealand were still 120 runs behind the Indian total – that is a lot of time in the match. Let’s be honest, I think India could have perhaps declared 45 minutes earlier. And if New Zealand had been two or three down at stumps on Day 4, India could have gone on to win the Test match.”
He further said that Dravid would later realize his mistake as the bad light at the Green Park stadium had been a factor throughout the first four days of the first test.
McMillan further explained, “Rahul Dravid would have been part of that decision-making process so of course, he has to say that he got it right. But I think he’ll realize that teams had lost time because of bad light. So you had to keep that fact into the equation as well that you’re probably not going to get the full 90 overs in because of bad light.”
He signed off by saying, “That had been the case every day. So, I think India missed a trick here and they should have set New Zealand 250-260 and that would have brought them another 10 overs and that could have been the difference. Had that been the case, India could have been 1-0 up in the series.”
