Poor shot selection cost India the Test: Wright

Coach John Wright blamed poor shot selection for India's 10-wicket defeat to West Indies in the third Test on Sunday.

India were bundled out for 102 in the first innings and could never recover.

"At the end of the day the biggest issue we have on the tour is shot selection," Wright said.

"That's something you can talk about and something you've got to practice," he said. "It is disappointing when you see the same mistakes made on occasions." Opener Shiv Sundar Das was bowled on the first ball of the Test playing across the line to Mervyn Dillon. Fellow-opener Wasim Jaffer was caught behind playing away from his body and Vangipurappu Laxman was bowled when he played around a Cameron Cuffy delivery.

"There's self-discipline required in the shots you hit in the middle," Wright said. "We have to make the right decisions."

Wright said the first innings collapse had proved critical.

"We really needed to go through that first part of the first day, that was crucial.

"We lost a few wickets early, then there was the unfortunate run out of Rahul Dravid and we didn't get anything out of our tail."

LOWER-ORDER WORRY

One of India's biggest worries this series has been poor production from their lower-order.

"We did not get enough contribution again from the lower-order which is a problem area," captain Saurav Ganguly said.

"On the first morning of a Test match, any team can get a few good balls and lose a couple of early wickets, but their lower order comes out and gets runs. We could not do that," he said.

Ganguly was the only Indian batsmen who resisted the West Indian pace bowlers, scoring 48 in the first innings and an unbeaten 60 in the second as India scored 296 to narrowly avoid an innings defeat.

"I've been hitting the ball very well from the start of the year," Ganguly, who has been criticised in India for his poor form against short bowling, said.

"The problem is every one inning I fail they start talking about my form. I hope I continue the same way in the next two Test matches."

Ganguly said India, who have not won a Test series outside south Asia in over 16 years, were not giving up hope of achieving that in the Caribbean.

"It's 1-1 right now and there's still a lot of cricket to be played in the series," he said. "If we bat well we know we can win."

Ganguly did not rule out the inclusion of leg-spinner Anil Kumble, who was left out of the Tests at Trinidad and Barbados for off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

"He's (Kumble) got a great record for India and he'll be on our minds when we pick the team for Antigua."

The fourth Test starts on Friday at St. John's.

Also read: Hooper, Chanderpaul make India toil

Mail Cricket Editor