IND vs NZ: Abhishek Nayar plays down India’s batting collapse vs New Zealand
Assistant coach Abhishek Nayar said that he isn’t bothered about India’s batting collapses in the ongoing Test series against Tom Latham’s New Zealand. Rohit Sharma’s men are 2-0 down in the three-match series after poor batting performances in Bengaluru and Pune.
With a Test in the series left to be played from Friday, November 1, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India are in danger of getting whitewashed. Nayar said that India’s batting did not ‘collapse’ and rather they lost wickets ‘in a bunch’.
“I wouldn’t call it a collapse, when you lose wickets in a bunch or when we pick wickets in a bunch — like we did in the last game as well, where we got seven wickets in 51 runs — I think that tends to happen in this game of cricket,” Nayar said in the pre-match press conference.
‘Intent is more about approach’
India did not make the best of starts after getting out for 46 in the first innings of the Bengaluru Test. With their backs against the wall, India crumbled in Pune as well, conceding a lead of 103 in the first innings, after which they could not come back.
“Sometimes it is the mindset. It may not be perceived from outside as trying to be aggressive or trying to have intent, but intent is not necessarily swinging at the ball. Intent is more about your approach towards the ball,” Nayar said.
“Is it worrying? Well, the only way we look at it is how we can get out of it. That’s our thought process (and) mindset,” Nayar added.
Despite the two losses, India are sitting on top of the table in the 2023-25 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle with a win percentage of 62.82 thanks to victories in eight out of 13 matches.
