India didn’t value their No.1 status: Hussain

Dhoni and Fletcher

Calcutta: Former England captain Nasser Hussain has slammed India’s performance in the Lord’s Test saying that Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team didn’t value their No.1 Test status and that they played the match with “totally inadequate preparation”.

“I am so pleased that England won because they set the perfect template on how you should prepare for and then perform in a very important game of Test cricket.

“India were exactly the opposite. They just turned up with totally inadequate preparation and expected everything to be alright on the night. Do they not value their status as the best Test team in the world? They did not seem to here,” Hussain wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.

Contrasting England’s build-up for the crucial series, Hussain said: “Everything that England have done this summer has been geared towards making sure their players are as ready as possible for this Test series, including Andrew Strauss playing at Taunton and Stuart Broad playing for Notts.

“In contrast, India expected their top strike bowler in Zaheer Khan and their premier batsman in Sachin Tendulkar to rock up without playing a Test since January and just have a bit of a hit and giggle against Somerset before the big one. They did not help themselves.”

Hussain was also all praise for England pacer Stuart Broad and batsman Kevin Pietersen who stellar shows made the difference.

“That’s the best I have seen Stuart Broad bowl… If I was Andy Flower now, I would sit Broad down and say: ‘Right, that’s exactly the way you should do it. Yes, you can try to rough up the tailenders, but you got the top order out with intelligent, skilful bowling. Stay just like that.’

“Then I would sit Kevin Pietersen down and say: ‘That first century in your double hundred is exactly how you need to bat. That’s the way to build an innings. No ego. No giving it away. Make sure you do the same in the second Test at Trent Bridge.’”

According to Hussain, the England team, under Strauss, are like a “machine” now and that they have no weak links. “England are a machine now. There are no weak links. Broad, Pietersen, Jimmy Anderson or Matt Prior could all have been the Man of the Match in this (Lord’s) Test. The award went to Pietersen but England were brimming with quality,” Hussain said.

“They had to work really hard for their wickets on the final day but they were ready for that because they have worked so hard to get where they are in the game, on the brink of becoming the best team in that game. They never shy away from a battle. There is no let up for opponents,” he said.

“A lot of people still ask why these players do not play more county cricket but this is why. They have built themselves up to this peak for this match and they will be mentally and physically exhausted now, but they must do it all again on Friday.”

“These are England players now, not county ones. They train and play for England and must only play county cricket when it is in their and England’s interests for them to do so,” he added.

Elaborating on India’s lacklustre show, Hussain added: “India simply were not ready for them in this game. India have real issues… Zaheer is injured, quite probably because his body was not right for this game, and it is difficult to see how he can play in the second Test.

“After that match India just have a two-day game at Northants to get ready for the third Test, when they will again have little opportunity to get themselves right for the second half of the series. What’s going on with them?”

He also criticised India’s decision of not agreeing to reviews for leg-before wickets. “For us to have a halfway house, mish-mash of a decision review system in this series has been driven by India and frankly it’s confusing and pathetic,” Hussain said.