Former cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has issued a stern warning to the BCCI, saying that India will suffer 'sound beatings' in Test cricket if head coach Gautam Gambhir's 'strange' tactics are not corrected going forward.
While Manjrekar praised the Shubman Gill-led young Indian team for drawing the five-Test series 2-2 in England, he felt visitors could have lifted the inaugural Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy had the strategies been better.
Unlike his predecessors Rahul Dravid and Ravi Shastri, Gambhir’s strategies were heavily tilted towards batting. The obsession with batting all-rounders saw premier spinner like Kuldeep Yadav warming the bench right through the series.
“(Yashasvi) Jaiswal, Gill, (KL) Rahul & (Rishabh) Pant & even Washy (Washington Sundar) 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," Manjrekar wrote in his column for Hindustan Times.
“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. A similar approach versus Australia and India would pay a heavy price for it, like we saw recently in the BGT. In the current euphoria these tactical mistakes if not questioned by the selectors and the BCCI, leave India vulnerable to another sound beating against a good side," he added.
The outcome of the England series provided a much-needed breathing space to Gautam Gambhir, who was under-fire for India’s dismal show in the Test format lately.
Under his guidance, India had earlier conceded the away Border-Gavaskar Trophy 3-1 to Australia and also suffered a humiliating 3-0 whitewash to New Zealand at home.
Manjrekar also disagreed with the popular opinion that the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy was one of the all-time great contests in the sport.
“No, it wasn’t. For starters, sorry to burst the bubble, it has to be one of the weakest bowling attacks from both sides that I have seen in a series featuring two main stream teams,” Manjrekar wrote.
