Paul Nixon blames injuries for India’s humiliation against England – News Update
Former England wicketkeeper batsman Paul Nixon blamed too many injuries for India’s loss on the English tour. The tourists failed to win even a single match in any format of the game.
According to Nixon, “I feel for India because India had so many injuries. No team loses that many world class players. It is almost that they lost a team. I feel for India as they played against a very good England side. England cricket is in a good place.”
The former player, who will quit all form of cricket after this year’s Champions League Twenty20 further stated, “I feel for India because you cannot lose that many world class players and do well. They are tired. They play too much cricket. International
cricket schedule is too much. TV and media wants all the cricket and it is hard for players.”
India’s tour of England started off with a four-match Test series. However, the team lost their pace ace Zaheer Khan in the very first game of the series. He managed just a few overs on day one of play and walked out; leaving his side’s bowling attack vulnerable.
The left-arm pacer was the pick of the bowlers for his side in the ICC World Cup 2011, as he was the highest wicket-taker of the tournament alongside Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi.
This was not the only blow for the Men in Blue. The team’s openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag also struggled with injuries and were sent back home in order to recover.
India’s leading spinner Harbhajan Singh was also declared unfit after playing the first couple of Test matches. Although he was out of form, the classy bowler had the ability to turn things around very quickly.
Heading into the five-match One Day International (ODI) series, the MS Dhoni led team suffered another blow, as star batsman Sachin Tendulkar sustained in injury. He was also ruled out of the remainder half of the tour.
Injuries did not seem to end for the Indian side, as they lost promising batsman Rohit Sharma during the ODI series. All this chaos resulted in humiliation of the team, as they failed to win even a single game against England.