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Former Pakistan players Basit Ali and Kamran Akmal have blamed Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir for their tactical moves that led to India’s maiden home ODI series loss to New Zealand, bringing humiliation to the Men in Blue.
The Indian team has faced some criticism after their maiden home series loss to New Zealand in ODI cricket. Now, former Pakistan players have also stepped in and taken the opportunity to disparage the capabilities of the Indian captain and head coach.
Former Indian cricketers like Kris Srikkanth have also criticized the newly appointed India captain for his bizarre decisions in the 50-over game. Shubman has lost back-to-back series as captain of India and is yet to make an impact as captain.
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“I don’t know why Shan Masood is in Gir and I don’t know what to do.
Former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali found some irregularities in Shubman Gill’s strategy of introducing Nitish Kumar Reddy ahead of the spinners, especially when New Zealand lost three early wickets while Phillips was struggling to hit the ball to the fence.
In fact, he described Shubman Gill’s captaincy action as similar to what he had seen in his own country’s team and commented: “Yeh to Shan Masood wali Captaincy ki hai Gill ne.”
“You should not listen to messages from outside. I would tell him: ‘Let me go to school, jao aur kaptanieekh kar aao (go to school to learn captaincy),'” he added. He also claimed that if Kuldeep still gets a wicket after being hit with a few sixes, it will be a win for India.
However, when Shubman Gill saw Kuldeep being hit, he immediately stopped him and only got back to him after the partnership between the New Zealand batsmen crossed 150 runs. He also pointed out that Kuldeep and Jadeja bowled only 6 balls while the New Zealand professional spinner bowled 10 balls.
“Gill’s mind seemed to be spinning when he was captain” – Kamran Akmal
Kamran Akmal pointed out the same flaw when two Pakistani cricketers appeared on a show called Game Plan. Akmal feels that when wickets fall, India should involve their strike bowlers in the attack; in such a situation, New Zealand will not be able to cross the 250-run mark.
He observed that Harshit Rana bowled 10 overs despite missing runs, but Jadeja and Kuldeep did not, while on the contrary, the New Zealand spinner bowled the entire over.
The former World Cup winner from Pakistan also stressed that if India gets off to a good start with a score of 50-60 on the first wicket, the runs can be chased. So, this seems to be a clear attack on Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill.
“The captain has to control the game. When you get early wickets, you need to get your specialist bowlers involved in the attack. If they get another wicket at that stage, New Zealand will not score more than 225-250. Gill’s mind doesn’t seem to be working in the captain’s position,” Akmal said.
“If India had to win, Rohit Sharma had to bat at least 10 times and then Kohli would take over. The runs of Reddy and Rana did not lead to victory as the bases had to start from the top,” pointed out Basit Ali.
Buster Ali accuses Gautam Gambhir of wrong batting order
Basit Ali, who has been targeting cricket coaching, also criticized Gautam Gambhir.
“Gambhir loves left-right combinations in T20 cricket, so why does he keep sending right-hand bowlers to bat with Kohli when the left-arm spinner (Jayden Lennox) is bowling?” he asked. “Jadeja should be fielded before Reddy. You have a left-hander (in the top-middle order). Utilize him correctly,” Ali said.
He also accused the Indian team management and indirectly Gautam Gambhir of hastily appointing Shubman Gill as the captain of the Indian team, saying it was the same mistake Pakistan made in 2018 when Babar Azam was first appointed captain.
