As India slumped to a humiliating defeat in the Lord's Test, Virat Kohli walked out with a blank expression on his face. This abject performance has also drawn the ire of many Indian greats who have slammed the management for not preparing enough for the challenges and also for not learning from past mistakes.
Against the seam and swing, the Indian batting toppled like a pack of cards and there was not an element of grinding it out and putting a price on the wicket. Under murky clouds and against a moving Dukes ball, the much-vaunted Indian batting was always on thin ice and this is what had drawn the criticism from several Indian cricketing legends.
Spin great and former captain, Bishen Singh Bedi ripped apart the management and even picked on the BCCI for not identifying the root cause and then dealing with it.
"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 the former Indian spinner.
Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag, who never minces his words when putting across things on Twitter was not very impressed with the way the team folded without putting up a fight.
"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.
'We've got to pull up our socks'
Sachin Tendulkar urged the team to pull up their socks. He praised the England bowlers for the fantastic display.
"An all-round performance by England. Excellent spells of fast bowling by James Anderson and Stuart Broad, with a fine performance by Chris Woakes. We've got to pull up our socks and produce better cricket India," he wrote.
VVS Laxman, who has been quite active on Twitter in the recent past, hoped that Kohli and company will learn from the mistakes and put forth a much better performance in the third Test match.
"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 on Twitter.
How the Indian team reacts after this reversal and how the under-fire players walk out again when the third Test begins at Trent Bridge will now only give us an indication of their character, but it will also help them save their own careers.
