Indian captain Virat Kohli (left) throws the ball to Jasprit Bumrah in Sydney on Sunday.
Known for not holding back, former cricket Gautam Gambhir once again aimed his gun at Indian skipper Virat Kohli after team lost out the ODI series to Australia with back-to-back losses at Sydney Cricket Ground, with the latest coming on Sunday.
Indian bowlers, who conceded 374 runs in the first ODI, were taken for the cleaners once again as Aussies put on a massive 389 runs on the board to take the game away from the visitors.
India's strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah had an unforgettable outing once again as he gave away the most runs from his side (79 runs) in his quota of 10 overs while picking just one wickets. This prompted Gambhir to question Kohli's bowlers' management skill as he found him to be clueless.
“I can’t understand the captaincy to be honest. We kept talking about how important is to take wickets upfront if we have to stop this kind of batting line-up and then you make your premier bowler bowl two overs. Normally, in a One Day game probably there are three spells of 4-3-3 overs. Or probably the maximum is four overs,” the 2011 World Cup winner said on ESPNCricinfo’s post-match show.
“But if you stop your premier fast bowler just by bowling two overs upfront with the news, I can’t understand that kind of captaincy. I probably can’t even explain that captaincy. It is not T20 cricket. I probably can’t understand the reason to be honest because that was poor captaincy.”
The former Indian vice captain also felt that India could have used Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar for the game when there's a sixth bowler crisis and added that if Indian team is lacking a sixth bowling option entirely then it's a selection error.
“They could have given someone like Washington Sundar or Shivam Dube or whoever was there in the squad to play the next game and see how they go into the one-day format. But if you don’t have anyone in Australia then it is a selection error as well," said Gambhir.
