Gautam Gambhir's 'Surprising' Call Stuns Experts; Ricky Ponting Gives Blunt 'Logic' Take

The decision taken by the Indian cricket team management to send Shardul Thakur to bat at No. 7 ahead of Washington Sundar stunned experts during the fourth Test match against England at Old Trafford. When Sai Sudharsan got out on Wednesday, there was still an hour left on the clock but India decided to go with Shardul ahead of the in-form Sundar. The decision by head coach Gautam Gambhir and Co could the commentators by surprise as they did not expect the visitors to use Shardul as a 'night watchman'. While Ravi Shastri and Dinesh Karthik tried to make sense of the decision, former Australia cricket team skipper Ricky Ponting went on to say that he was trying to work out the 'logic' behind the call.

"I'm just trying to work out the logic from India here as to why they've sent Shardul in ahead of Washington Sundar. Just looking at the numbers, I mean, Washington averages nearly 39 in Test cricket and Shardul is down at 17. And he's [Sundar] not being sent out. He's [Shardul] not a night watchman, there's still 40 minutes of play here, and a new ball around the corner," Ponting said.

Shastri, who was also in the commentary box, agreed with the him saying: "All the more reason [to send Sundar ahead of Shardul]". He played in the first Test match. Dismissed pretty cheaply, a couple of loose shots," referring to Thakur's scores of 1 and 4 in the series opener in Leeds last month."

Karthik, who replaced Ponting in the commentary box after some time, echoed similar sentiments.

"I was extremely surprised too, considering how well Washington has batted, not only in this series, but in the recent past – and he's batted better with batters around. He's not been that effective with the tail."

Topics mentioned in this article

Shardul Thakur Washington Sundar Gautam Gambhir India Cricket Team England Cricket Team England vs India, 2025 Cricket