Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) icon AB de Villiers strongly criticized India’s top five batters after their 22-run defeat to England in the third Test at Lord’s. His comments came in the aftermath of India collapsing for just 170 while chasing a modest target of 193, falling behind 1-2 in the five-match series.
Now an analyst, de Villiers took aim at the Indian top order for adopting an overly cautious approach, which he believes backfired and allowed Ben Stokes’ England to seize control in the final innings. Speaking on his YouTube channel, he stated:
“I think team India went wrong in my humble opinion, final innings way too conservative with the bat in hand in the top five. I felt Jaddu played it to the tea because he needed to be conservative and play the situation, where I felt the top five had a lot more freedom to be fluent out there and to take that attack to the English bowlers, put pressure on them, make them get the catches out.”
“Team India never got to do that as they were very tentative, very conservative, obviously wanted to take it deep, but that sort of backfired,” he added.
The 41-year-old emphasized that India’s batters squandered the advantage created by their bowlers, who had done well to dismiss England for just 192 in the second innings. AB De Villiers remarked:
“India will be very disappointed not leading this series right now. They’ve missed out on so many opportunities to dominate, especially with the bat in hand with those last batters.”
“If they can sort that out, I truly believe Team India’s bowling attack is over England’s batting attack, and they are doing their job. It’s just the batters because they’re getting the starts, but they’re not just pushing on,” he stressed.
“Shut it and lock it” – AB de Villiers slams India over first-innings collapse
AB de Villiers also criticized the Indian team for their first-innings batting collapse, pointing out how they lost their final four wickets for just 11 runs and missed the opportunity to take a crucial lead. The legendary South African batter commented:
“So, that will be the theme for Team India going into Test match number four, also five, where it’s a couple of mustwins [games] for them. First thing first, the most important thing, priority is that Test match at Manchester make sure they get the momentum on their side again.”
“And conce they get an opportunity to shut the door, make sure you shut it and you lock it alright because Team England have got a habit of opening that door if you don’t lock it properly,” he added.
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