Team India's loss in the first Test against South Africa has witnessed an outpour of reactions from fans and former cricketers regarding the team's health in the longest format of the game. Since the Border-Gavaskar Trophy win in 2020/21, India's record in Tests in SENA countries has taken a hit. India have won just one game in SENA countries since 2021/22 with three losses in South Africa and a couple of them in England and questions have arisen with respect to Rohit Sharma's captaincy, the team's intensity and places of a couple of players in the team.
Now, former India opener Kris Srikkanth has blasted the team saying that apart from ODIs, they are overrated in the other two formats. Srikkanth admitted that Team India is faltering at semis and the finals hurdle in ODIs but still in the 50-over format they are a gun side and in Tests too, since Virat Kohli left captaincy, they are not the team they were once before, especially in overseas.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Srikkanth said, "In T20 cricket India are highly over-rated. ODI cricket, we are a fantastic team. What happens in ODis, in the semi-finals, finals, it's just a one-off match. It's a luck factor, a lot depends on luck in these matches. I read Rohit Sharma's statement, for a cricketer, the 50-over World Cup is a huge achievement. We are sometimes underperforming in the knockout matches, in the semi-finals and the final. But we are a gun side in ODI. Regardless of where we play, be it India, Australia or South Africa, we are a gun side.
"Test cricket, we are slightly overrated. We have to make sure... I think it was a phase of 2-3 years... when Virat Kohli was the captain of the team, we were outstanding. We dominated in England, we fought hard in South Africa, we won in Australia. We had a good phase for 2-4 years. Yes, we were dominating in England, in Australia," Srikkanth further added.
It hasn't been a great run in overseas Tests for Rahul Dravid and Co. and the head coach will be keen to get a positive result in Cape Town as a 0-2 loss against South Africa could be detrimental to the team as there might be a few changes before they travel to Australia. Cape Town hasn't been favourable to the Indian team in the past and it will be a huge challenge for the two-time WTC finalists to pick themselves up from that innings defeat in the series opener and try and turn it around in the second and final game.
