Gautam Gambhir Grilled Over Shubman Gill's Tactical Blunder: "I Can't See Everyone..."
Down 1-2 in the five-match series, India trail England by 186 runs in at the end of Day 3 in the fourth Test.
- India captain Shubman Gill delayed using spinner Washington Sundar on Day 3 of the 4th Test at Manchester
- Sanjay Manjrekar criticised the decision, suggesting senior players or coach should have advised Gill
- "Because I can't see everyone agreeing to this kind of move," said Manjrekar
India captain Shubman Gill's under utilisation of spinner Washington Sundar has raised eyebrows amid the ongoing 4th Test against England in Manchester. Sundar, who picked up four wickets in the previous match, was only brought into the attack in the second session on Day 3, leading to heavy criticism of Gill. Soon after his introduction, Sundar struck twice in quick succession, but the majority of the damage had already been done by England's top-order batters Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope and Joe Root.
Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar also shared his views on the matter after the close of the day's play. He highligted that even if it was Gill who made the call, head coach Gautam Gambhir or the senior players should've given him some inputs.
"Can we assume that these decisions were taken solely by Shubman Gill? At this stage of his career, you'd expect him to get some inputs... or considering he has done so well as a batter, everybody has withdrawn, saying 'this guy is getting into the zone'," Manjrekar said on JioHotstar aftet Stumps.
"Because I can't see everyone agreeing to this kind of move. Bumrah, KL Rahul, or a Gambhir thinking Washi should not be bowled... come what may," he added.
Down 1-2 in the five-match series, India trail England by 186 runs in at the end of Day 3 in the fourth Test. India endured arguably their worst day on the field on Day 3 of the Manchester Test as Joe Root's record-breaking 150 put the hosts in complete command.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri also said that Gill should have shown more faith in his spinners.
"I said on my first commentary stint that Gill has to trust his spinners more. Washington gave him four (second-innings) wickets in the last game. He opened things up for India in the last Test at Lord's."
"He's confident, so give him a go. Spinners like longer spells. On a day like this you'd expect your spinner to accept responsibility, feel accountable and to go out there and do a job," said Shastri on Sky Sports' broadcast during lunch break.
(With IANS Inputs)
India Cricket Team
England Cricket Team
Gautam Gambhir