Gundappa Viswanath the former Indian batsman and captain of team India who was the another player of team India line-up who was bundled out at the score of 42 runs in 1974 against England at Lord's, believed that the record which was made by the team India in 1974 will ever broken never thought about it. After the complete absurd performance from team India against Australia at Adelaide when they were all out at the score 36/9 (the lowest ever total in the history of Indian cricket) in a pink-ball test, Gundappa Viswanath expressed his views over the team India performance.
The previous lowest score was of 42 runs in 1974 against England at Lord's which was the record for 46 years before team India better it new tagline “Summer of 36". In an interaction with the Indian Express, Gundappa Viswanath said this defeat is not about one player, it's a result of complete lapse in the best batting line-up in world cricket.
“I was in the team when we were all out for 42 against England at Lord’s. But I would never say that 36 laid the ghost of that to rest. I can never be happy. I never thought I would see India getting all out for 42 or less again in my lifetime. It doesn’t feel good. But they have to just leave this behind and pull their socks,” Viswanath wrote.
“Everything combines when a team gets out for such a low score. All the bowlers will bowl very well, top-order batsmen will get some good deliveries, and there will not be much resistance from the lower order,” Viswanath, who scored 6,080 runs at an average of 41.93 in 91 Tests, stated.
Comparing the batting tracks of both the grounds Adelaide, 2020 and Lord's, 1974. Gundappa Viswanth said Australian pitches are always fast and that’s what happened on day three at Adelaide which has turned into the nightmare for Indian batsmen and heaven for Australian fast bowlers.
“In Adelaide, the pitch became a little quicker on the third day. The Australian bowlers bowled really well, and consistently. The same thing happened at Lord’s. Whenever the batsmen were beaten, the ball took the edge.
“Compared to Lord’s, where it was cloudy and the ball swung, the Adelaide Oval pitch had a little more bounce but not much lateral or seam movement. All the bowlers kept the batsmen under pressure,” Viswanath added.
GUNDAPPA VISHWANATH – THE SERIES IS OVER YET AND TEAM INDIA CAN TURN AROUND:
With the Melbourne test for team India there will be more difficulty as two players, Virat kohli (on paternal leave) and Mohammad Shami (Pulled out of the series) will not be part of the campaign anymore. Gundappa Viswanath still believes that Men In Blue have enough calibre to turn around things from the jaws of defeat.
“The Indian team has played enough cricket to get this out of their system. There are players in this team who have played 60-70 Tests and even without Kohli, this team has the ability to bounce back. Rahane has captained India before, some years back, and guided the team to victory,” the 71-year-old mentioned.
In the coming three games, Gundappa Viswanath has advised that Prithivi Shaw should be replaced with Shubham Gill while KL Rahul to be included in the line-up to provide more depth in the batting.
“However, some changes become imperative. [Shubman] Gill has to come in place of [Prithvi] Shaw. No two ways about it. [KL] Rahul will come in place of Kohli...Rohit [Sharma] is there, but he will be available only for the last two Tests,” Viswanath concluded.
The dates of last two tests are not yet clear as there is recent “covid-19” outbreak in Sydney after the first test at Adelaide the media, reporters and visitors rushed in hurry towards Sydney due to which the next two tests can be reschedule to Melbourne only before moving towards Brisbane for the final test but the official statement is yet to release from the Cricket Australia.
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