With wounds of India’s series defeat to New Zealand still fresh, captain Shubman Gill has been unable to escape the wave of criticism that’s been directed at him.
Gill has lost his first two ODI series as captain – against Australia and New Zealand. However, what makes this defeat a bitter pill to swallow for India is the fact that they were outplayed by a fairly inexperienced New Zealand side. Kane Williamson, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Tom Latham, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry are some of the names that didn’t feature in the Playing XI; yet New Zealand comprehensively broke their duck in India.
The stars have yet to align for Gill, who, besides the England Tests, has yet to taste success as India’s captain. After his ‘lack of proactiveness’ was called out on live TV during the 3rd ODI in Indore, former Pakistan batter Basit Ali laid into the skipper, targeting him sarcastically for New Zealand’s win.
“Credit goes to the Indian captain, Mr. Gill and his captaincy. Even India was without Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah. Shami, they aren’t keen on picking. India’s strength has come down to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Rahul scored in two matches, but he got out cheaply today. What were the rest doing?” asked Basit on the YouTube Show ‘The Game Plan’.
India have only themselves to blame. They were ahead 1-0 in Vadodara before New Zealand clawed back in Rajkot and Indore to script a famous win. In last night’s series decider, India had New Zealand on the mat at 5 for 2, before Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Philips blasted centuries en route to a 219-run partnership. India fought back in the death overs with Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh grabbing three wickets each, but 338 proved to be a winning total.
India’s top-order failed to come together, with Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahil enduring disappointing scores. Virat Kohli stood tall with his 54th ODI century even as wickets around him fell. Only Nitish Reddy and Harshit scored half-centuries in support, and still, it wasn’t enough. Once Kohli departed for 124, the game was done and dusted.
Basit pummelled Gill and urged him to learn captaincy from scratch, while highlighting some of his errors.
“When New Zealand almost chased down a 300-plus target in the first ODI, they had set their goal. Who are India’s main bowlers, barring pacers? Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja. You have specialist bowlers, but you made Nitish Reddy bowl before him. Shubman Gill was trying to copy Shan Masood. Follow whatever message has been conveyed to him from the dressing room. You needed an early breakthrough. I salute him. Go to school and learn captaincy,” added Basit.