Sunil Gavaskar Slams Hashim Amla's Tactics During Nagpur Test

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar, on Thursday, criticised Hashim Amla's tactics during Day Two of the third Test in Nagpur against India. (Scorecard |Highlights)

On a day when 20 wickets fell, South Africa needed another 278 for victory and were reeling at 32 for two with opener Dean Elgar and captain Hashim Amla battling it out at the crease.

For the second time in the match, South Africa promoted Imran Tahir as No. 3 after opener Stiaan van Zyl was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin for 5. Gavaskar questioned Amla for promoting Tahir as nightwatchman when the Proteas could not afford to invite more pressure. (Losing Five Wickets for 12 Runs, South Africa Record New Test Low vs India)

"First of all, I don't understand the concept of sending a nightwatchman. You are sending someone who is not even interested in improving his position in the batting order from a number 10 to number 9," Gavaskar said on STAR Sports.

"He (Amla) did that in the first innings as well when he promoted Tahir as nightwatchman and it backfired. Instead, you could have sent someone who has a better technique to see off the final overs, which would have made better sense," Gavaskar added.

Even in India's second innings, Amla surprisingly brought his prime leg-spinner late despite the hosts scoring at the healthy rate. Amla waited for almost 25 overs before he decided to bring on Tahir. The leg-spinner responded with 5-38 from 11.3 overs.

Amla's horrible form has been one of the main reasons for South Africa's poor Test series. The Proteas are on the verge of another massive defeat until and unless Amla reproduces the form that saw him scoring an unbeaten double-century in a winning cause in Nagpur in February 2010.