New Delhi: Former cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar has questioned the commitment of some players in the India squad following the side's crushing second Test defeat to South Africa in Ahmedabad.
The hosts were skittled out for 76 on the first morning and went on to lose by an innings and 90 runs, leaving Gavaskar to suggest some players were distracted by the build-up to the Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL) beginning on April 18.
"Disappointing as the performance is, the question that is being asked is whether the Indian team was prepared for the second Test," he wrote in his column published in the Hindustan Times on Monday.
The first Test in Chennai ended in a high-scoring draw and featured four centuries, led by opener Virender Sehwag's Indian Test best of 319.
"Even after considering that the teams spent five hot and humid days in Chennai, the absence of some players for two whole days out of the three rest days between the two Tests was strange to say the least," Gavaskar added.
"Moreover, preparation and focus for a Test match cannot be switched on and off just like that."
India, hampered by injuries to key players, have already faced criticism in the media after some of the side appeared at promotional functions for their IPL teams.
Gavaskar urged new coach Gary Kirsten, who took over before the series, to tighten discipline. "Kirsten better crack the whip, or else some of the guys will ride roughshod over him."
"A player like Sehwag, who got 319, being given a day off from practice is fine or, for that matter, a bowler who has bowled a lot, but those guys who hardly got a wicket and looked unlikely to get one, opting not to practice doesn't speak highly of their commitment."
"They should have been going hard at the nets, trying to get their wrist position and footwork right rather than practicing their dancing steps."
"It is about time they realised that they are what they are, because of cricket."
The third and final Test starts in Kanpur on Friday.
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