Former Indian cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has expressed concerns about Gautam Gambhir’s ‘strange tactics’ in the recently concluded five-match Test series against England. Manjrekar also believes India would have won the series 3-1 if the head coach had selected the right playing XI for India based on conditions as well.
Writing in his column for The Hindustan Times, he added, “Jaiswal, Gill, Rahul & Pant & even Washy are your safe bets even against quality opposition but I fear for India’s seam bowling and its strange tactics led by Gambhir with regards to playing XIs and bowling changes, if these controllables were handled better, India would have beaten the natives 3-1 you would think. But this should not take the sheen off India’s overall performance especially the execution side of things… in this area, young India was fantastic.”
“The one bowler with great skills and ability had a bizarre approach to playing in this series even before it began, so bowling greatness or excellence was seen very sporadically over 175 hours of Test cricket. That a class act like Kuldeep did not feature at all will remain one of the shocks of the series, when you are playing an opposition with a very weak bowling attack and a strange batting approach such selection blunders can cost you,” he shared.
The veteran also suggested that Team India showed great resilience by playing the long format despite having just finished two months of T20 cricket as well.
“Firstly, my feeling about young India batters does not change, my chest is still pumped in the way (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, (Shubman) Gill, (KL) Rahul, (Rishabh) Pant, (Ravindra) Jadeja and even (Washington Sundar) Washy batted. I won’t tire saying that in this age of T20 cricket, what these T20 compatible batters have done is nothing short of phenomenal,” he added.
“They dug deep into their mental reserves not just for 2 or 3 or 4 Tests, but they still had enough left in the tank for another grind right at the end when most batters would be mentally done and finished. I am thinking of Yashasvi Jaiswal here,” Sanjay Manjrekar concluded.
