Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif questioned Shubman Gill’s captaincy after the second Test match against Sri Lanka ended in a draw. India was in a shoo-in position as Sri Lanka was leading only by 16 runs at stumps on day four and had only four wickets in hand.
However, Sonal Dinusha and company showed a stomach for a fight as Indian bowlers failed to find a way through the tail. It was a disappointing result for India and the drawn Test has further dampened the team’s chances of qualifying for the WTC final.
Kaif highlighted that there was enough turn on offer on the final day of the Test match but the Indian spinners failed to make the most of it.
Mohammad Kaif said on his YouTube Channel, “There was a lot happening on this pitch. People are saying, ‘There was not so much turn on the pitch.’ Of course, there was a lot of turn. Is four degrees of turn really that little? You might say it should have been seven degrees or six degrees, but the pitch was very favourable for bowling. The ball was turning. I just feel that, overall, we somehow failed to capitalise on those key moments. As a captain, Shubman Gill is still learning. When we talk about him becoming a mature captain, I feel he is still not the finished product.”
Kaif noted that Gill used his bowlers in short-spells and he has never seen a captain rotate his bowlers like this.
“What I saw was that the bowlers were being used in one-over spells. I have rarely seen a captain use a bowler like that, sometimes for one over, sometimes two, sometimes three. And when you reach the fourth or fifth day of a Test match, you don’t have to do anything extraordinary. You have good bowlers in your team. On the fifth day, what do you have to do? You just have to bowl. Keep bowling, keep bowling, keep bowling.
“So, in my opinion, one of the key issues was that the bowlers were not being given the patience and sustained spells they needed. When you hand the ball to a bowler and allow him to bowl a long spell, he gets a chance to settle into a rhythm. That opportunity to settle was not given to them. That is the first thing,” he added.
India registered a 1-0 series win against Sri Lanka.
