Former Pakistan players Basit Ali and Kamran Akmal have blamed the strategic moves of Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir for India’s first home ODI series loss to New Zealand, which left India feeling humiliated.
The Indian team is facing a lot of criticism after India’s first home series defeat in ODI cricket against New Zealand. Now, former Pakistan players have also taken the opportunity to come forward and disparage the ability of the Indian captain and head coach.
Former Indian cricketers like Chris Srikkanth have also criticized the strange decisions made by the newly named Indian captain in the 50-over format. As the captain of the Indian team, Shubman has lost two consecutive series and till now he has not been able to make his impact as a captain.
The Pakistani cricketer trolled Shubman Gill and said, “This is the captaincy of Shaan Masood, Gill has done.”
Former Pakistani batsman Basit Ali noted several irregularities in Shubman Gill’s strategies when he introduced Nitish Kumar Reddy before his spinners, especially when New Zealand had lost three early wickets, and Phillips was struggling to get the ball to the fence.
In fact, he described Shubman Gill’s captaincy as similar to what he saw for his national team, commenting, “Yeh to shan Masood wali captaincy ki hai Gill ne.”
He said, “You should not pay attention to the messages being given from outside. I would tell him: ‘Go to school and learn captaincy.’ He also claimed that if Kuldeep had got a wicket even after hitting two-four sixes, it would have been India’s victory.
However, when Shubman Gill saw that Kuldeep was being hit for runs, he immediately removed him from the attack and came back to him only when the partnership between the Kiwi batsmen had crossed 150 runs. He also pointed out how Kuldeep and Jadeja bowled just 6 overs, while New Zealand’s specialist spinner bowled 10 overs.
“Gill’s brain is not working in captaincy” – Kamran Akmal
Kamran Akmal pointed out the same flaws when both the Pakistani cricketers came on a show called “The Game Plan”. Akmal felt that India should have brought their strike bowlers into the attack when wickets were falling; One wicket in those circumstances and New Zealand will not be able to cross the 250-run mark.
He observed that despite leaking runs, Harshit Rana bowled his 10 overs, but Jadeja and Kuldeep did not, while, on the contrary, New Zealand’s spinners bowled their entire overs.
The former Pakistan World Cup winner also highlighted that the run chase would have been possible if India had made a promising start with a 50-60-run partnership for the first wicket. Hence, it seemed a clear attack on Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill.
Akmal said, “A captain has to control the game. When you get early wickets, you need to bring your specialist bowlers into the attack. If he had got one more wicket at that time, New Zealand would not have been able to score more than 225-250 runs. Gill’s mind is not working in captaincy.”
Basit Ali said, “If India had to win, Rohit Sharma would have had to bat at least 10 overs and Kohli would have taken charge after that. The runs of Reddy and Rana did not lead to victory, because the base has to be built from the top.”
Basit Ali blames Gautam Gambhir for wrong batting order
Basit Ali, who always targets cricket coaches, also targeted Gautam Gambhir fiercely.
“Gambhir is fond of left-right combinations in T20 cricket, so when the left-arm spinner (Jayden Lennox) was bowling, why did he keep sending right-handers to bat with Kohli?” he asked. Ali said, “Jadeja should have been sent before Reddy. You have a left-handed batsman (in the top and middle order). Use him properly.”
He also blamed the Indian team management and indirectly Gautam Gambhir for being hasty in appointing Shubman Gill as the India captain and called it the same mistake that Pakistan made in 2018 when Babar Azam was made the captain for the first time.
Also read: After the ODI defeat against New Zealand, BCCI Vice President criticized Gautam Gambhir, praised Virat Kohli and Harshit Rana.