'Why are people bothered about bowling?' - MSK Prasad feels batters let India down in WTC Final

India succumbed to a poor outing in the final of the World Test Championship as they were outclassed by New Zealand. The loss in the final resulted in many criticizing India’s bowling attack as they failed to pose any threat to the Kiwi team when they were chasing 139 in the final innings. 

Indian team management was also placed under major scrutiny for picking a combination of three seamers and two spinners. Many in the cricket fraternity slammed India for playing with the spinners as England holds the reputation of providing pitches that assist the pacers. 

Amidst all the trolling and criticism, former Indian selector MSK Prasad has backed the Indian skipper Virat Kohli and the team. Prasad sided the bowling unit saying that India went with their best possible combination but it was the batters that let the team down.

India could score only 170 runs in the third innings, giving New Zealand a target of 139. Prasad believes that if the Indian batting unit had performed well, the team would have either won the match or it would have resulted in the draw. 

I don’t think there was anything wrong with the playing XI: MSK Prasad

“We have gone with our best combination, that’s not the issue. It’s our batting which has let us down, why are people bothered about bowling? After falling 60 runs short [in the first innings], you can’t expect to win. If they had gotten 300 runs, the match would either have been in our favor or it would have been a draw. So I don’t think there was anything wrong with the playing XI,” Prasad told Sportskeeda.

Ravi Ashwin was decent with the ball throughout the WTC Final as he picked two wickets each in both the innings, However, Ravindra Jadeja’s performance was highly disappointing as he picked just one wicket and scored only a few runs. Speaking about the same, the former selector added that Jadeja would have played a crucial role if the match was conducted for five days. 

“The reason was that, if in case it would have been a full game, there would have been a lot of footmarks, they [NZ] had many left-handers in their side, which he could have fancied his chances against. If you really look at it, there was some spin on offer which helped even Ashwin,” Prasad concluded.