India could have easily won the Kotla Test very comprehensibly if they had a proper game plan for the same. Delayed declaration on the 4th day, numerous missed catches, sloppy fielding especially on the last day, missed stumping chances and overall, a casual approach displayed by the Indian fielders as if they were destined to win obviously exposed the chinks in Kohli’s armour just a month prior to the series against the mighty South Africans. It was pity to see the country’s best possible combination pitted against a hapless bunch of stragglers from Sri Lanka. This series could have been fruitfully utilised to give test caps to some budding cricketers, who are waiting in the wings to get a chance to display their cricketing skills. In future, the BCCI should necessarily pick a team based on the cricketing abilities of the opposition so that a reserve bench is always available.
Amit Banerjee
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
