Follow UsFormer India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh feels the current Indian players haven’t shown enough fearlessness and have the tendency to become “too tight” in pressure games, resulting in them not winning a single ICC title since 2013.
India have constantly made it through to the playoffs of various tournaments but haven’t been able to win even one trophy since that Champions Trophy triumph in England.
“There is nothing lacking (in terms of skills). The more you play the big games the better you get. I feel you need to play more freely in these big games. I think we have become a bit too tight. Will have to play more freely and not think about the results,” the two-time World Cup winner told PTI.
“The more you leave the players to do the job, they will do the job. If you put pressure on them that if you don’t perform well, some get dropped and some don’t (they will feel underconfident).
“The idea is to give them confidence that even if you don’t do well, give your best. That way we will probably lift a few cups. Just play fearlessly.”
Even in the ongoing World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval, India are way behind in the game after the end of day two. Rohit Sharma and Co. have been completely outplayed so far and made things easier for Australia by not picking World’s No. 1 Test bowler R Ashwin.
“The game is for five days so you have to choose your bowlers according to those five days. Ashwin is a proven performer, four seamers are a bit too much. Day four, day five are as important as day one. It is also important how you finish the race,” said Harbhajan.
“Maybe the management did not think too much about it and went ahead with four seamers which are way too many. It was still understandable if someone of the caliber of Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami was sitting out, then it would have still been okay (to play four pacers).”
The quartet of Shami, Siraj, Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav couldn’t put enough pressure on the Australian batting line-up and allowed them to amass 469 runs on a tricky Oval surface. In reply, India have been reduced to 151/5 and are still trailing by 318 runs.
“Maybe management thought the conditions were more in favour of the seamers. You needed to take a call between Shardul or Ashwin. It is hard on Ashwin to sit out even after taking so many wickets.
“Would have been better to play Ashwin and play two spinners instead of four seamers, even though wicket was green on day one.”
Talking about India overlying on Shami and Siraj, Harbhajan said: “It has come down to the captain’s confidence also. The captain had more confidence in Shami and Siraj, they were bowing really well in the IPL also.
“Umesh did not play much coming into this game and same with Shardul. Less bowling did not solve the cause.”