Disappointed by the way critics went after Virat Kohli after New Zealand debacle, shares Gautam Gambhir
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Gautam Gambhir has expressed his disappointment over how the critics stormed the Indian Test side, especially on skipper Virat Kohli, after a rare failure in New Zealand. Gambhir has opined that going with only four specialist bowlers and dropping red hot KL Rahul backfired Team India.
India’s second away series of the World Test Championship turned out to be a nightmare as they were beaten comprehensively in the two-game Test series as New Zealand clean swept the series. What was worse it followed a 3-0 hammering in the ODI series which amplified the criticism for the horrific tour. Former India opener Gautam Gambhir is disturbed by the way the critics cracked down on the Indian side and especially skipper Virat Kohli after the rare failure. The Delhi lad felt that the conditions lead to the undoing of the visitors who were lacking experience in their relatively young batting line up.
"I was once again disappointed by the way critics went after Virat Kohli and his men after the 2-0 Test series loss against New Zealand. Everything was questioned. Selection choices, the atmosphere in the dressing room, Japsrit Bumrah's sharpness, or the lack of it, and even Virat Kohli's eyesight. Prithvi Shaw was touring New Zealand in India colours for the first time. Mayank Agarwal is not too old in the piece. In the absence of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, the dependency on Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane was way too much. In the end, the conditions proved way too challenging," Gambhir wrote in his TOI column.
Gambhir believes that going against a strong side as the Black Caps with just 4 specialist bowlers backfired for the side mostly due to pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s lack of rhythm, who was returning from an injury. The cricketer-turned-politician went on to add that the inclusion of KL Rahul, who has been in red hot form lately scoring 204 runs in three ODIs which preceded the series, could have bolstered the inexperienced top order.
"Our bowling department was well-served especially with Ishant Sharma returning, though, unfortunately, he ended up getting injured. If anything, I was disappointed to see them playing with four bowlers. As I wrote in the past as well, India should always play with five specialist bowlers. Apart from this, they should have retained KL Rahul in the Test team," Gambhir signed off.
