Former captain Ajit Wadekar feels the Indian cricket team's humiliating 0-4 loss to England in the recently-concluded Test series was a result of fatigue and lack of preparation.
"They had no time to celebrate the team's World Cup victory. It was followed by IPL, the West Indies tour and then the tour of England. The body language was terrible. They looked tired," Wadekar told PTI.
"They thought just by being No 1 in the world (in Test ranking) we can beat England, who looked a determined team and had prepared well for the series," he said.
Recalling India's maiden series victory over England under his leadership in 1971, Wadekar pointed out that at that time, the team played nine tour games and won eight of them unlike the current outfit, which played only one warm-up game before the first Test at Lord's.
Wadekar, who led the Indian team during the 3-0 series loss to England in 1974, recollected that like Dhoni's men their team also coped with an unsettled opening pair and lack of sufficient practice.
"We played four practice games but most were rained off and we also did not have settled openers," Wadekar recalled.
"This team went in two batches, did not have enough time to strategise and get acclimatised. The opening combination missed the presence of Virender Sehwag (who missed the first two Tests recuperating from his shoulder operation). There were other injury issues too, including that to key bowler Zaheer Khan," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"This team went in two batches, did not have enough time to strategise and get acclimatised. The opening combination missed the presence of Virender Sehwag (who missed the first two Tests recuperating from his shoulder operation). There were other injury issues too, including that to key bowler Zaheer Khan," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Wadekar's outfit went to England after three Test series wins in a row, including back-to-back triumphs in the West Indies and England in 1971 followed by a home series win over England in 1972-73, but was humbled 3-0 by the hosts.