Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar has expressed his dissatisfaction with Team India’s decisions during the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia. Gavaskar believes that the board and selectors should question coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma regarding their wrong decisions in the match. Gavaskar specifically highlighted the decision to field first after winning the toss and the failure to employ bouncers against Travis Head as major errors that turned the game in Australia’s favor.
Sunil Gavaskar criticized Team India’s decision to field first after winning the toss in the WTC final. He believes that the selectors and the board should ask why this decision was made, especially considering Travis Head’s weakness against the short ball. Gavaskar expressed surprise that the Indian team didn’t employ bouncers from the start, despite knowing about Head’s vulnerability.
“The selectors and board should be asking questions, ‘Why did you field first (at WTC final)?. Okay, it was explained at the toss that it was overcast and all. The question after that should be, you didn’t know about Travis Head’s weakness against the short ball?”, Sunil Gavaskar said.
Gavaskar questioned why the Indian team only employed bouncers against Travis Head after he had scored 80 runs. He mentioned that even commentators, including Ricky Ponting, were calling for bouncers as soon as Head came to bat. Gavaskar believes that this failure to exploit Head’s weakness earlier in the innings reflects a lapse in strategy and execution.
“Why was the bouncer employed only when he had scored 80 runs. You know, the moment Head came into the bat, in the commentary box, we had Ricky Ponting saying, ‘Bounce him, bounce him.’ Everyone knew about it but we didn’t try.
Mind you, if I was in the commentary box, I would never tell anyone about an India player’s weakness. This is where the selection committee should be calling both captain and coach and asking, ‘Hello, what happened?’,” the 74-year-old further said.
Sunil Gavaskar emphasized that the selection committee should call both the captain and coach to question their decision-making in the WTC final. He expressed his disappointment with the lack of proactive measures to exploit the opposition’s weaknesses. Gavaskar believes that accountability is essential and highlighted that these issues have been present in Indian cricket since 2011.
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“That kind of thing doesn’t happen. Whether you win or lose, the captain knows that he is going to be there. This has not been a recent case, mind you. This has been happening since 2011. There have been results where we have been wiped out in the series 0-4, 0-4 but the captain hasn’t changed,” Gavaskar concluded.
Gavaskar expressed his concern about the captain’s position being secure regardless of the team’s performance. He stated that the captain knows that he will not be removed, irrespective of wins or losses. Gavaskar pointed out that this lack of consequence has been prevalent in Indian cricket since 2011, with instances of series losses without any change in leadership.
