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Haunting Issues For India Ahead Of BGT 2024-25: 46 All Out Serves Timely Reminder

India were bowled out for 46 in first innings of Bengaluru Test (Source: PTI)India were bowled out for 46 in first innings of Bengaluru Test (Source: PTI)

Cricket is a great leveller! One day, you are on top, and the next day, you find yourself in the middle of a huge crisis. India experienced that on the second day of the opening Test against New Zealand when they got bowled out for just 46, their lowest ever score in Test cricket ahead on home soil. The fact that it was the very next match after India crushed batting records in Kanpur with the fastest team 50, 100, 150, and 200, makes this batting collapse an even bigger shock.

However, some setbacks are always good for the long term and bigger success. The Border Gavaskar Trophy is just around the corner in Australia, and this batting collapse would help India stay grounded on that tour. It has also highlighted some problems in their batting department that the Aussies Down Under could exploit. It also gives time to Indian management and players to work on these issues and be better prepared for the tough Australian tour. So, here are a couple of issues India needs to address before BGT 2024-25:-

India's Vulnerability Against Swing And Seam - The 45 Minutes Of Bad Cricket Saga

All of India's major collapses in recent times have come in conditions where the pacers have got help in the air and off the deck. India won the last two Test series in Australia, but the lowest-ever score also came during the Border Gavaskar Trophy in 2020-21, where India were bowled out for just 36 in the Day-Night Test at the Adelaide Oval. The pink ball tends to do more than the traditional red ball, and Indian batters have always found difficult to tackle that extra movement.

Also, India lost both the WTC finals after their batting collapsed against quality seam bowling in English conditions. India have a tendency to lose wickets in clusters in such conditions and in the 2021 WTC final against New Zealand, India had collapses in both the innings. In the second innings, they were 109-4, but were bowled out for just 170 and in the first innings they were cleaned up for 217 after being in a good position with a score reading 149-3 at one point in time.

A similar collapse happened in the 2023 WTC final against Australia. Also, during the one-off Test against England in Birmingham in 2022, India lost last seven wickets for 98 runs and went on to lose the Test after taking a good lead at the end of the first innings. Similar collapses have also occurred in South Africa and New Zealand, and India would need to be aware of them in the upcoming tour of Australia. 

No Grinder In Current Indian Setup In Absence Of Cheteshwar Pujara

India currently have a young arsenal at their disposal. Young batters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant all like to play their shots and the knack of getting out of trouble by hitting big shots could haunt India just like it did in the first innings of the Bengaluru Test. 

One of the major reasons for India's success in the last couple of Australian tours was the solid performance of Cheteshwar Pujara. He stood tall with his compact defence and held one end up in crucial India wins, which allowed other players to play freely. There is no such player in the current Indian team, and it adds a lot more responsibility on senior players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul to avoid collapses in the batting line-up.

These are some of the issues that India need to sort out ahead of the all-important Border Gavaskar Trophy, if they want to register a hat-trick of series wins in Australia.