Gautam Gambhir points out the reason for the recent trend of teams losing at home in Tests

Mumbai (India), : India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Thursday pointed out the reasons for teams’ tendency to lose in Tests at home and said it was due to the pressure of World Test Championship points.

India will look to defend their pride by taking on the Kiwis in the third Test at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. The home team, which is 0-2 behind in the three-match series and suffered its first series defeat at home in 12 years, will aim to assert itself to avoid an embarrassing situation.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Gambhir said that every match is important for him. He added that due to the pressure of T20 cricket, teams lose in home tests.

“For me, WTC points are very important. Every Test match is important. There are no dead rubbers anymore. This has a lot to do with T20 cricket. The days of draws are gone because the quality of batsmen and batting has increased. Matches will now be more result-oriented, which comes from WTC points and T20I cricket. It is a combination of pressure,” Gambhir said.

In the second Test, New Zealand opted to bat with a first and half-century from Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra helping the Kiwis reach 259 after Washington Sundar bowled an incredible comeback spell to decimate the Kiwi middle-order. India conceded just 156 runs in their first innings; spinner Mitchell Santner took 7/53 and Ravindra Jadeja top-scored with 38 runs. In their second innings, helped by captain Tom Latham’s 86, NZ posted 255/10; Washington picked four wickets while Ravindra Jadeja picked three wickets. In the run chase of 359 runs, India fell short by 245 despite Yashasvi Jaiswal’s fightback. India lost by 114 runs and New Zealand won the series 2-0.

New Zealand had won the first Test by eight wickets.

India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Dhruv Jurel, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, KL Rahul .

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