Former Indian batsman Mohammad Kaif launched a scathing attack on Shubman Gill as he commented that India were losing Tests due to their lack of experience.
India lost the South Africa Test, and the blame cannot be placed solely on the Indian head coach, as captain Shubman Gill is equally responsible. While Shubman Gill could not play in both the Test matches, Rishabh Pant, who came as his deputy, also had to face disappointment.
Mohammad Kaif sidelines Gautam Gambhir and blames Shubman Gill for India’s defeat
In a discussion on his YouTube channel, when asked if the Indian team was dependent on the coach, Kaif refused to put the blame solely on Gautam Gambhir and said that India faced problems due to poor captaincy choices of Shubman Gill.
“Look, you have to face the truth. Right now, they don’t have any proper captain. Shubman Gill has just started captaining. First tell me, how much captaincy has he had in India? Don’t talk about West Indies, don’t compare West Indies. Even a UP Ranji team can beat them. So what I am saying is that they still don’t really have any captain,” he said.
He pointed out that neither Shubman Gill nor vice-captain Rishabh Pant have enough experience to lead the Test team in either home or away conditions. They were pitted against the world champions of Test cricket and so had to suffer the consequences.
He said, “Rishabh Pant is captaining in his first Test match. You have someone who has never captained before, yet he is leading the team against the world Test champions. Shubman Gill is also a new captain and you have new players, so there will be ups and downs.”
Kaif highlighted that playing on flat pitches has kept the Indian youth away from challenges
After taking a dig at the captaincy of Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant, Mohammad Kaif highlighted that young Indian cricketers lack batting skills as they have played on flat tracks and have never faced such unpleasant batting conditions.
Players like Sai Sudarshan and Dhruv Jurel have played on pitches where the batsman’s ability is not tested to this extent and hence, this needs to be corrected. Overall, Kaif said that India has made mistakes in many areas and there is a need to correct all of them.
“Here, someone like Sudarshan plays on seaming tracks, in the IPL they play on flat pitches, Jurel also plays mostly on flat or seaming pitches. Where does he even play on turning tracks? That’s what I am trying to say. There are eight to ten issues that have gone wrong. It is difficult to point to just one. He has a lot of things to fix right now,” he said.
Kaif highlights South Africa’s strengths compared to England’s shortcomings, leading to contradictory results
When Mohammad Kaif attacked the Indian captain for his lack of experience, he was asked how India managed to draw a five-match series against England under the same captain.
On this, the former Indian batsman claimed that, unlike England, who missed many chances and failed to capitalize at crucial moments of the game, South Africa is a better side which does not make such mistakes. He highlighted Aiden Markram’s record of 9 catches in just a two-match series and the brilliant efforts of Rickelton, Johnson and others on the field.
He said, “England are sixth in the Test rankings. You have overtaken England; they are not a big, unbeatable team. Neither Broad nor Anderson were there; all the new bowlers were playing. Even after that, you could not win the series. It ended 2-2, and in the last Test you actually lost.”
“If you look here, South Africa have proper bowlers like Jensen, he is tall, and spinners like Maharaj and Harmer. India dropped catches in the England series too, but England were very bad. Joe Root and Jadeja scored centuries because of dropped catches; how many examples should I give you? South Africa don’t make mistakes like that.”
Also read: Ravichandran Ashwin becomes Gautam Gambhir’s human shield after India’s home Test series loss to South Africa
