Lack of consistency cost India series against Aus

New Delhi: Mohammad Azharuudin attributed India`s lack of consistency as the reason behind their ODI series loss to Australia and said the players need to learn to win close games in pressure situations.

"They (Indians) lack consistency. They have not performed consistently for the last 6-8 months and lost some close games. They need to win those close games," said Azharuddin.

"Australia are a tough side. India are also no less and they have a lot of talent. But they are still a bit behind top teams like Australia and South Africa," he said.

Advising the cricketers to maintain a fitness regime, Azharuddin said at same time they should not hide injuries.

"Most of the players these days play with injury and hide it. Why are they doing that? They are doing something wrong by hiding injuries. My advice to players is to tell your physio or doctor about your problem. It`s important to get it diagonised properly so as to prolong cricketing career," said Azharuddin at the concluding session of Sports Medcon.

"Another problem is when the players go home after their hectic schedules they tend to become casual. They don`t do anything and compromise with their fitness regime. Sometimes it invites injuries. So what happens that when they return to conditioning camp, they were not fit or little obese."

Narrating a few of his own experiences, Azharuddin said when he was playing in Reliance World Cup in 1987, he encountered an injury in the third and fourth games and went on to play with it till the semifinals.

Bureau Report