“I think the pitch got to the heads of the Indian batters” – Anil Kumble slams Team India for 2024 home Test series whitewash to New Zealand

Former Indian captain and head coach Anil Kumble reckons the pitch got into the heads of the Indian batters after their embarrassing 3-0 series loss against New Zealand. The home team suffered a 25-run loss against the Kiwis in the third Test match of the series at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday.

Chasing 147 runs for the crucial WTC points, India crashed at 121 runs as the batters once again could not hold their ground on a spin-friendly pitch. Barring Rishabh Pant, who scored a fine knock of 64 runs to go with his first innings score of 60, none of the other Indian batters could show any gumption.

None of the other Indian batters, except Pant, could even breach the 15-run mark in the second innings as the batting line-up failed miserably. Kumble feels Indian batters were not at their best mentally and it led to their downfall.

“I think the pitch got to the heads of the Indian batters…the top order not even batting a session throughout the series, except for that one partnership in Bangalore in the second innings. Other than that, you know in five innings to sort of just go through a batting line up, like the Indian batting line up in one session certainly says a lot about the approach, the attitude and of course, needs a lot of questioning and how you could come out of this,” said Kumble on JioCinema.

On the other hand, the former leg-spinner admitted that New Zealand dominated the series to win for the first time on the Indian shores.

“One team that has been really good travellers when they come to India has been the Kiwis. Everybody has a good soft word and nice word about the Kiwis. But this was a performance where, you know New Zealand dominated in the series. Yes, of course, the win was just by 25 runs. But the way they went about countering the pitches, the conditions, the bowling and that’s what you know, you need to give credit to to New Zealand,” said Kumble.

Kumble also feels India’s think tank needs to shed light on what kind of surfaces they should play at home as the turning tracks gives the opposition an edge.

“I think it’s about time. If it was not even before the start of this Test match, it certainly something that India needs to respect and then, you know, understand what kind of surfaces you need to play on as well. You know, I think we spoke about it even in Pune before the start of the Test match itself. It was spin to win. But it’s certainly gave New Zealand a chance to come out there and then do what they have done exceptionally well.”

India will now need to beat Australia by 4-0 to qualify for the World Test Championship final.