Ravi Shastri has made a scathing attack on India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir, openly questioning the team selection decision in the ongoing two-match Test series against South Africa.
Shastri, who has coached India in some of its most successful years, said he is trying to understand what the team management is thinking. The former Indian head coach also described some decisions of the team management as illogical.
Ravi Shastri blames all-rounder overload for India’s defeat
However, the biggest concern of the former Indian captain is the team’s sudden obsession with all-rounders in Test cricket. Ever since Gautam Gambhir took over as head coach last year, players like Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana have been pushed forward, while pure specialists, especially batsmen like Sarfaraz Khan and Ruturaj Gaikwad, have been ignored.
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Shastri believes that this change has created confusion in the team structure. This confusion is at its peak in the ongoing series in South Africa. India chose three spin all-rounders, and in a surprise move, they promoted Washington Sundar to bat at number three ahead of a proper specialist like Sai Sudarshan.
This decision backfired badly and India lost the first Test by 30 runs. In the ongoing second and final Test, an injury to Shubman Gill opened the door for Sudarshan, who returned to his number-three position. But the team is still sticking to the all-rounder-heavy plan, with Nitish Kumar Reddy replacing Axar Patel in the lower order.
Ravi Shastri criticizes Gautam Gambhir’s selection as India face another whitewash at home
Sundar was sent down to number eight, raising even more questions as he had bowled just one over in the first Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Ravi Shastri felt that if Sundar would hardly be used with the ball, there was no point in selecting him.
The 1983 World Cup winner believes India have made things unnecessarily complicated. Instead of supporting the specialists and giving clarity to the batting order, too many all-rounders have been moved around without any clear role, and the results have been disappointing even at the domestic level.
The former Indian all-rounder also said that when India look back at the ongoing Test series, they will have to accept that many of the selection decisions were not quite right. Shastri believes that this series has become a lesson in how unclear roles and confused selections can hurt a team.
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Still trying to understand the thought process: Ravi Shastri
“It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand the thought process there. And when they look at the series, some of the selections… I’m still trying to understand the thought process behind them. In Kolkata, a spinner (Sundar) had just bowled one over,” Ravi Shastri said on air, as quoted by News18.
Ideally, you could have gone with another specialist batsman. Similarly, here, Washington batted at number three in the last Test and now that you had number three, you could easily bat at number four here. He is not number eight; He is much better than number eight.”
Notably, India had already been beaten by New Zealand on home soil last year, and another defeat could cost Gambhir his position as the hosts head towards another embarrassing series defeat. South Africa is on the verge of a historic clean sweep in India.
