India's abject surrender in the first two Tests against England has drawn sharp criticism from some of the country's celebrated former cricketers, who hoped the side would have the strength to bounce back.
Virender Sehwag, Bishan Singh Bedi and VVS Laxman were among those who lamented the lack of fight shown by India in the second Test against England, losing by an innings and 159 runs to go 0-2 down in the five-match series.
"Very poor from India. While we all want to stand by our team and support them when they don't do well, going down without a fight is very disappointing to watch. Hope they have the confidence and mental strength to comeback from this," tweeted Sehwag.
Bedi was even more scathing in his assessment of the performance. "Dismal Indians at Lord's..everyone remotely connected with Indian Cricket knows where the problem lies or stems from..but will not utter a word for want of strength of character & courage of conviction...which is even more depressing really than the batting debacle actually...!!" wrote former India spinner Bedi.
Laxman hoped India will learn from the mistakes ahead of the third Test starting August 18 at Nottingham. "Caught in unfavourable conditions, not reading what the opposition threw saw India lose the Lord's Test tamely without showing a fight. Hopefully lessons are learnt quickly and the rest of the batsman start applying themselves going forward," he wrote.
Former India batsman Mohammad Kaif said the team's performance was painful o watch. "India lasted 82 overs across 2 innings. They not learning from mistakes has been very disappointing to watch. Thoroughly outplayed in all departments in this one. Lack of fight has been the most disappointing aspect. This is really painful to watch. No batsman exudes any confidence," he said.
Another former batsman Vinod Kambli said India have plenty to think about ahead of the next Test. "Our entire approach in this Test was defensive. More than anything, we allowed the English bowlers to come out on top by not playing our natural stroke playing game.The #TeamIndia think tank has a lot to ponder over in the coming days," he said.
