Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif has taken a veiled dig at the Indian team management led by Gautam Gambhir after India’s 0-2 Test series whitewash against South Africa at home recently.
After losing the Kolkata Test with ease, South Africa handed a record 408-run defeat to India in Guwahati on a pitch that was excellent for batting and had something for the bowlers as well. However, the Indian batters and bowlers failed badly, and India lost their first Test series to South Africa since 2000.
Mohammad Kaif said that the team's leaders have no idea what they're doing and that the management's short-term attitude is harming the team. He also chastised the management for pressuring senior players into early retirement.
"There is no simple answer for this. There are 2-3 answers for this, and everyone knows it. I feel the ones who are running the team don't know what is going wrong. The ones from the outside know what is wrong. When India lost the first Test on a turning track, the strategy was changed only after one match. They played on a better track in Guwahati, where there was a bit of grass. This short-term planning is hurting us. Senior players are absent. They told Ravichandran Ashwin that we won't be able to find a place for you in the eleven, so he retired," said Kaif on his YouTube channel.
Although the team management has phased out the seniors, Kaif noted that the players who have taken their place are struggling to score runs on a regular basis.
"Hardly any batter could find their feet in India against Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Washington Sundar was brought, but he is not even half the bowler of that they were. Seniors were removed, but they are not able to compensate for them. Even the new players are not being given consistent chances. So, there is not one thing to pinpoint here. It is a mix of several things going wrong," he added.
The Indian national cricket team has now lost five tests at home under Gambhir's leadership, making him the only Indian coach since the year 2000 to do so. This is a startling indictment of a squad that, over the previous 20 years, had made home advantage an invincible stronghold.
