New Zealand vs India 2020: Constant changes in team major reason behind defeat in 1st Test, says Kapil Dev

Former Indian World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev criticized the fickle-minded selection policies leading up to India's humiliating 10-wicket defeat in the first Test in Wellington yesterday. Speaking to ABP News, Dev sounded critical of the constant chopping and changing under Virat Kohli's captaincy and marked it as an important factor in India's poor outing at the Basin Reserve.

The former all-rounder shed light on the insecurity that creeps in a player's mind if he isn't sure of a place in the team in the coming matches. He further said that the current players, all destructive in their own style, were going through psychological blockage arising out of the possibility of getting dropped which, in turn, is affecting their form as well.

"If we analyse this match critically, well, I do not understand how can one make so many changes. There is a new team in almost every match. No one in the team is permanent, if there is no security over your place, it will affect the form of the players.”

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He also stated that though any opposition captain would be scared to see the stalwarts present in the Indian dressing room, the well-known names weren't able to conquer the tough conditions in New Zealand.

"‘Such big names in the batting order, if you cannot score even 200 runs in 2 innings, you have not been able to conquer conditions. You have to focus more on planning and strategy.”

Dev also compared this situation to the one prevalent during his playing days and explained how a settled line-up augurs well for the team in general.

He believes that in-form players must be drafted into the team to maintain and ultimately increase their confidence. He cited the example of KL Rahul, who has been in tremendous form off-late but has been sitting out in the longest format of the game due to the team management's strategy of format-specific players.

"I do not understand. There is a lot of difference between when we played and what is happening now. When you build a team, you have to give confidence to players. When there are so many changes made, it does not make sense. Management believes in format-specific players. Rahul is in great form, he is sitting out, it does not make sense. I believe when a player is in form, he needs to play.”