Former India captain Sourav Ganguly said he is worried about the lack of character and fight from the batting unit of Virat Kohli-led touring team in the ongoing five-Test series against England.
India were bowled out for 107 in just 35.2 overs on Day 2 of the second Test at Lord's on Friday. Nearly two full sessions were washed out due to incessant rainfall but James Anderson & co. had enough time to run through the out-of-form Indian batting order.
Anderson made best use of overcast conditions and sent both the Indian openers back in the hut cheaply. Kohli's men were reduced to 15/3 before a long rain break.
Chris Woakes joined the party in the final session of the day in which the visitors lost seven wickets for just 92 runs. R Ashwin finished as the top-scorer for the visitors with 29 runs.
"Tough conditions, but very poor batting. The number of times the ball went behind the stumps — that is something which they need to look at very, very quickly," Ganguly told Sony Six after Friday's play at Lord's.
He added: "Yes it was testing, it wasn't easy. It was a good toss to win for England. Perfect conditions for James Anderson. Chris Woakes, the way he bowled was fantastic.
"It's terrific fast bowling. India just felt they had nowhere to go. It's a batting unit which has just been claustrophobic in conditions with swing and seam. It's a batting order which lacks confidence.
"The wicket did a bit but poor technique and lack of confidence added to it. The last three innings of India [in England] has been very, very poor. Not enough character, not enough fight and that's the worrying factor.
"200 would have actually given India a chance on this pitch in the second innings. But just a 100 on this sort of a surface is not good enough. England dropped catches, otherwise it could have become worse."
Friday's collapse in London was the third successive batting failure from the visitors in the ongoing tour. Barring captain Kohli, none of the other batsmen got going in the first Test at Edgbaston that India lost despite strong bowling performance.
Other batsmen should stop copying Kohli: Ganguly
Meanwhile, Ganguly also urged the Indian batsmen not to copy captain Kohli but show better application individually to tackle the tough conditions. Recalling Cheteshwar Pujara's horrific run out on Friday, the batting great urged the batsmen to feel free to say no to their captain.
"I wonder whether the other players can express themselves or not. If they are not sure [about committing to a run], they have to say no to their captain and he's got to find a way back. I want to see more of that when this team progresses," the 46-year-old said.
"Everyone has got to be on their own to take this team ahead. Not wait and watch what Virat Kohli does and act accordingly."
