‘The experienced players need to step up’ – Inzamam-ul-Haq wants Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara to get big hundreds

England bowlers were right on the money on day four in the Leeds Test as they wrapped up India’s remaining eight wickets and won the match by an innings and 76 runs. Ollie Robinson led the way for the hosts accounting for five wickets. It was an anti-climax of sorts for the Indian fans, who had expected a rearguard action just like they did on day three. But the visitors imploded and could not save the Test match.

With this fantastic win, England have levelled the five-match series 1-1. Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq analyzed India’s performance on his YouTube channel and felt with the series level the next two matches would be interesting as both the teams are equally very good.

“Both teams are good, but if you look at India’s batting Virat Kohli has not scored a hundred for close to two years, even Pujara and Ajinkya’s condition is the same. So far, India’s batting performance has been delivered by the young players and lower order batters like Jadeja, Ashwin and, new players contributing in Test matches is more,” Inzamam said.

“The old and experienced players need to step up. I am not saying the newcomers are not good, they are good. But if the experienced players don’t lead from the front, or they don’t play big innings, then you are in some problem.” he added.

The cricketer-turned-expert also felt that from the Australia series, lower-order batters have been contributing more for Team India. “From the Australia series to the present one, whatever I have observed during the Test matches, India have played excellent cricket for the past two years. They have won away series in tough conditions when everything was against to their liking and yet made a great comeback.”

“But in all of those wins, the major role played was by young players and, because of their good contribution, India did well. So, the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli are one of the biggest players going around. Everyone considers Virat as the number one player, there is no doubting Rohit Sharma’s class. Even Pujara and Rahane are excellent players when it comes to Test cricket,” he added.

Inzamam-ul-Haq feels the big players need to step up in the Indian team

Inzamam concluded by saying that the big players need to step up and score the big hundreds. “What is happening now is they are not scoring hundreds for a long period of time. I am not telling the other team, but the pressure of performing well for the youngsters in the Indian team will be enormous. For now, they are doing well, but they would expect the big players to return to form soon.”

“If Pujara and Kohli would have scored some runs, and build a partnership, then things could have been different,” Inzamam concluded.