India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir Border is under intense pressure from all corners for the team’s final performances in the Gavaskar Trophy. Gambhir is now being criticized by the former Australian spinner Brad Hogg According to earlier comments on India’s adaptive capacity.
Ahead of the five-match Test series Against Australia, Gautam Gambhir had indicated that he wanted India to adjust to the situation. However, Hogg feels that the Indian team is only playing aggressively.
According to the former left-arm wrist spinner, the team needs to know how to play defensively if they want to salvage the Test match. But India’s ultra-aggressive style took a toll on them and it even resulted in a large number of wickets.
Brad Hogg questions India’s ‘adaptability’ under Gautam Gambhir
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Brad Hogg recalled Gautam Gambhir’s earlier comments that he wanted the Indian team to adapt. Hogg has urged the Indian team to learn to play defense as well as attack to save a Test match.
“One thing Gautam Gambhir has said before is that he wants his players to be adaptable, to have an aggressive brand of cricket, but when they have to save a Test match, they also have a defensive game. I haven’t seen that in the Indian team as we have progressed,” Hogg said.
Indian team plays a very aggressive game which cost them test matches too. However, such ultra-aggressive play earned them a hard-fought victory against Bangladesh in the two-match Test series.
In India naturally Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Pant smashed 61 off 33 balls in the second innings of the Sydney Test, which did a lot for the bowlers.
Gautam Gambhir’s statement on India’s adaptability
India head coach Gautam Gambhir had earlier said that he wants the team to adapt to every situation. Gambhir wanted India to bat to save 400 runs in one day and a Test match over two days.
“We want to be a team that can score 400 runs in a day and bat for 2 days to save a Test match. And that’s the growth and adaptation we’re looking for. That’s what Test cricket is. We have batsmen in the dressing room who can do both,” he said. Gambhir was quoted by India Today.
However, adaptability has been lacking in India’s batting so far. The batsmen could not stay at the crease for long and seemed to be itching to take the game forward very quickly.
T20 cricket is believed to be one of the main reasons why Indians remain vulnerable. The players play a lot of T20 cricket and rather than stay at the crease for long, they drop back to get quick runs.
Brad Hogg on the future of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli
Brad Hogg then pointed to Gautam Gambhir and his coaching staff for India’s decline. He also talked about the poor form of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, which hurt India in the Test series against Australia.
“So it’s Gautam Gambhir who has to go, or the new head coach brings in his own coaching staff, or the assistant coaches have to go too. But I think Rohit Sharma is there at that time and Virat Kohli is there,” Hogg said.
“Two leaders who are not really at the top of their game. So there are a number of variables you can look at there, which was India’s destruction at the Test level over a period of time,” he observed.
The upcoming Champions Trophy will be crucial for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and could decide their future. Both players are under a lot of pressure after their form has dropped in recent times.
