File photo of Gautam Gambhir
The return of rank turners in India's home Test against New Zealand has put a big question mark on the future of head coach Gautam Gambhir. For the first time in 12 years, India lost a home Test series while suffering its first-ever clean sweep in a three-match series. While there are many factors that have contributed to the team's demise, head coach Gautam Gambhir's emphasis on bringing back rank turners for the Pune and Mumbai Tests has proven to be a major one. As the chatter on the subject continued, former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali also criticized Gambhir for the pitch decision while drawing comparisons with Rahul Dravid.
Comparing India's current head coach Gambhir with his predecessor Dravid, Basit said the latter has a much better coaching mind. Gambhir's decision to reject Dravid's pitch theory and go back to rank turners left the ex-Pakistani star confused.
“Rahul Dravid's mind is better than Gautam Gambhir's. Dravid would make pitches for four days, where the ball would spin in the last few days. You are now making such pitches where even someone who is not an ordinary spinner gets a lot.” turn right from day one,” Basit said on his YouTube channel.
Gambhir has also adopted a more attacking style of play within the Indian team. Basit believes that the former Kolkata Knight Riders mentor does not have a good understanding of players' psychology like Dravid did.
“Rahul Dravid was a good coach. He knew the psychology of the players. If you tell Virat Kohli to play T10 and T20 in Test cricket, then it is unfair,” he added.
The Indian cricket team has a big task ahead of them during the tour of Australia consisting of 5 Test matches. Gambhir's philosophy as a coach and the performances of veterans like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be key to India's success Down Under.
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