England vs India: MS Dhoni, Duncan Fletcher Have Been Stubborn, Says Geoffrey Boycott

Former England skipper Geoffrey Boycott feels a struggling Indian team should be far more flexible in their tactics as they take on the hosts for the fifth and final Test of the series at The Oval from Friday. (Complete Coverage of India - England Series)

India had the series lead over England after winning the second Test at Lord's, but embarrassing losses in Southampton and Manchester meant they would now have to fight and level, with victory in London. Boycott, now an outspoken analyst, accused MS Dhoni and Duncan Fletcher of being stubborn in their decision-making and urged them to try new things in a bid to salvage some lost pride. (Moeen Ali Surprised to Get 19 Wickets in Series)

"Promoting Ajinkya Rahane (instead of Cheteshwar Pujara), is a good idea. When things are going bad, which they are, and Pujara isn't himself, he's not the player that we expected, then try anything. You've got to be flexible. I know Pujara got an awful LBW decision against Moeen Ali, it was missing leg and going over the top as well. Even so he hasn't been himself in the series. To be honest, if you don't make runs in Tests, you're never in the game," Boycott told Cricinfo's Bowl at Boycs on Thursday.

India's batting, the saving grace even in Test series defeats in South Africa and New Zealand, has floundered in England against top-quality seam bowling. Pujara, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan have had a forgettable series so far. Gautam Gambhir, who replaced Dhawan at Old Trafford, did not seem ready for a Test comeback either and Boycott suggested  India were left with no choice, but to be innovative after their top three batsmen continued to flop.

"You have to put runs on the board to give your bowlers a chance. Their best two players are Pujara and Virat Kohli, they were and still are iconic batsmen. They are the glue that holds the Indian batting together. Pujara, he's got starts and everything, he's like the new wall - the Dravid of the Indian team. He spends time in the middle, plays long innings, blunts the opposition bowlers. Kohli comes in and he is a strokemaker, the star player. He's got all the shots. But at the moment neither of them can cut it. "

"So if you've got one of your openers - [Shikhar] Dhawan and [Gautam] Gambhir, one or the other they're not good enough. Their technique is not good enough to play the moving ball consistently well in England. You play at home where it doesn't move so much and it's slow, you get more time, that's the difference. Here it swings and there are a lot more failures. So to me, Dhawan and Gambhir won't cut it. Your two best players aren't playing well so you are three batsmen down to start with. Try something," Boycott said.

There were murmurs from The Oval about Stuart Binny getting a possible chance instead of Ravindra Jadeja, who has done precious little, barring his daredevil knock at Lord's. The Saurasthra all-rounder has failed to live up to the skipper's expectations, both as a batsman and number one spin bowler. The far more talented Ravichandran Ashwin was left out in the cold in Trent Bridge, Lord's and Southampton, as England's part-time off-spinner Moeen Ali continued to torment Indian batsmen, picking up wickets in heaps.

By playing Jadeja ahead of Ashwin, Dhoni sent out a clear message about who his number one spinner was. However, Boycott ridiculed the move and branded Jadeja a T20 bowler, who bowled defensively, with the only objective of stemming the flow of runs.  

"I don't think he's (Jadeja) as good a bowler but there you are. They are so entrenched to include Ashwin because in his four previous Tests he didn't have great figures. Well, I'm sorry, the damn lies is statistics and you have got to be careful about that. You've got to use statistics sensibly, but not just to go by them. Jadeja, Dhoni believes - and so does the coach - that he's the No. 1 spinner for India. Quite frankly he's not good enough. He's a Twenty20 bowler, he bowls defensively, batsmen attack him in Twenty20 and he gets wickets," Boycott said.

Boycott reckoned both Dhoni and coach Fletcher, have been rather stubborn in not playing Ashwin for the better half of the series against an English side packed with left-handed batsmen. Alastair Cook, Gary Balance, Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad might well have found Ashwin a handful, with the pitches offering spinners substantial assistance in the dying stages of the match.

Boycott is not the only to have questioned Dhoni's captaincy in the ongoing series. The wicketkeeper-batsman has been under attack from several quarters over his defensive strategies that saw India lose a golden opportunity to wrap up a historic series win in England. Boycott insisted, however, that India needed to persist with Dhoni as captain, because there were no alternatives.

"Don't get rid of Dhoni because he's a good leader of people and who else could you pick? Three of your batsmen aren't making runs for a start. You got nobody else at the minute. He just has to be more flexible, somebody has to talk to him and that's what the coach has to do as well. What the hell does a coach do, I don't know. If they don't talk and say things to the players and the captain, no point being coach," said Boycott.