Anil Kumble urges India to step up as shaky WTC Final chances loom: 'Time to get their act together'

Having rarely faced tough challenges in Test matches on home soil against teams other than Australia and England since 2012, India was expected to easily win all five of their scheduled home games before heading off to Australia for a five-match tour. However, the unexpected defeats to New Zealand in the first two Tests of the series, under the leadership of new head coach Gautam Gambhir, has caught everyone by surprise. New Zealand's victory in Bengaluru marked their first Test win in India in 36 years, and they followed it up with a historic series win in Pune, their first ever in the country.

It means that although India have now lost the series, they need to somehow dust themselves off and try to win the third Test in order to avoid putting their chances in further jeopardy, and to avoid the humiliation of being whitewashed at home. Former India captain and head coach Anil Kumble said that India have effectively made it harder for themselves to reach the WTC final.

“I think that's the beauty about WTC. I know the series is done for India, but then every Test match is equally important. They have obviously made it harder for themselves,” Kumble said on Jio Cinema. “At the start of the series, we spoke about getting five wins for you to really sail into the championship final. But now if you need those four wins in the next six matches, that becomes even tougher because the one is at the Wankede Stadium against this extremely confident New Zealand side and then five against Australia in Australia.”

Kumble said that India may have won on their last two tours of Australia but this series comes with the added pressure of reaching the WTC Final alongwith the fact that their batters have a lot of work to do. India's batting collapses were a huge reason as to why they lost the first two Tests to New Zealand.

"I know India has done really well in the last two series that they played in Australia but this time it's all the more tougher because India have to qualify, and they have to really get their act together. The batting has been disappointing. The bowling will have its challenges right throughout. The reason that India is on the top there is because Indian bowlers have been able to pick up those 20 wickets. The batting needs to come together and start getting those runs," he further added.