Former Pakistan players Basit Ali and Kamran Akmal have blamed the tactical moves from Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir for India’s first-ever home ODI series defeat to New Zealand, which has caused humiliation to the Men in Blue.
After India’s first-ever home series defeat in ODI cricket against New Zealand, several criticisms have been levelled at the Indian team. Now, former Pakistan players have also stepped in and grabbed the opportunity to demean the calibre of the Indian captain and the head coach.
The likes of former Indian cricketers like Kris Srikkanth have also criticized the odd decisions made by the newly named Indian skipper in the 50-over format. Shubman has lost back-to-back series as the captain of the Indian team and is yet to make an impact as the captain.
“Yeh to Shan Masood wali captaincy ki hai Gill ne,” Pakistani cricketer trolls Shubman Gill
Basit Ali, the former Pakistani batter, marked several irregularities in Shubman Gill’s strategies when he introduced Nitish Kumar Reddy ahead of his spinners, especially when New Zealand had lost three early wickets, and Phillips was struggling to get the ball to the fence.
He, in fact, described Shubman Gill’s captaincy moves to be similar to what he had seen for his own national team, remarking, “Yeh to Shan Masood wali captaincy ki hai Gill ne.”
“You shouldn’t go by messages being conveyed from outside. I would tell him: ‘school me jao aur kaptani seekh kar aao (go to school and learn captaincy),” he added. He also claimed that if Kuldeep had gotten a wicket even after being hit for a couple of sixes, it would have been a win for India.
However, when Shubman Gill saw Kuldeep being hit for runs, he immediately took him off the attack and went back to him only when the partnership had gone past 150 runs between the Kiwi batters. He also pointed out how Kuldeep and Jadeja bowled just 6 overs, while the NZ specialist spinner bowled 10.
“Gill’s mind doesn’t seem to be working in captaincy” – Kamran Akmal
Kamran Akmal pointed out the same flaws when the two Pakistani cricketers appeared in the show titled “The Game Plan.” Akmal felt that when wickets were falling, India should have brought their strike bowler into the attack; one wicket under those circumstances, and NZ would not be able to cross the 250 run mark.
He observed that despite having leaked runs, Harshit Rana bowled his 10 overs, but Jadeja and Kuldeep didn’t, while, on the contrary, the New Zealand spinners bowled their entire stretch of overs.
The former World Cup winner from Pakistan also highlighted that the runs were chasable had India gotten off to a promising start with a 50-60 run partnership for the first wicket. Hence, this seemed a clear attack on Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill.
“A captain has to control the game. When you have got early wickets, you need to bring your specialist bowlers in the attack. If they had got another wicket at that stage, New Zealand wouldn’t have scored more than 225-250 runs. Gill’s mind doesn’t seem to be working in captaincy,” Akmal said.
“If India had to win, Rohit Sharma had to bat for at least 10 overs, and Kohli would have taken over after that. The runs from Reddy and Rana didn’t result in a win, because the base has to be made from the top,” noted Basit Ali.
Basit Ali blames Gautam Gambhir for the wrong batting order
Basit Ali, who has always made cricket coaches his target, unleashed his criticism on Gautam Gambhir as well.
“Gambhir is fond of the left-right combination in T20 cricket, so why did he keep sending right-handers to bat alongside Kohli when a left-arm spinner (Jayden Lennox) was bowling?” he asked. “Jadeja should have been sent ahead of Reddy. You have one left-hander (in the top and middle order). Utilise him properly,” said Ali.
He also blamed the Indian team management and indirectly Gautam Gambhir for having shown haste in appointing Shubman Gill as the captain of India and called it the same mistake that Pakistan had made back in 2018 when Babar Azam was named the captain for the first time.
