Mohammad Kaif is offering some advice to the Indian team before their fourth Test match against England in Manchester.
He suggests that captain Shubman Gill and coach Gautam Gambhir should stick with Karun Nair, even though Nair hasn’t been scoring big. Nair, who’s back on the team after eight years, has gotten scores of 0, 20, 31, 26, 40, and 14 in this series. He hasn’t played as well as everyone hoped.
Kaif thinks India tends to overreact when they lose. He told IANS that after a loss, they make changes to the team, but after a win, they keep the same lineup. He wants them to resist that urge after losing the third Test.
Kaif said that Nair has been getting decent starts and deserves another chance to prove himself. He sees this as a test for Gill and Gambhir – will they panic and make changes after a tough loss, or will they trust their players?
India lost the first Test by 5 wickets but bounced back to win the second by a huge margin, 336 runs. The third Test was really close, but England won by just 22 runs.
Kaif noted that India has been the better team for most of the series. He said that before the series, many people thought India would lose badly, but the team has been a surprise.
He also pointed out that this young Indian team has done well without key players like Kohli, Rohit, Shami, and Ashwin. They almost won two close matches. Kaif feels Gill has been a good leader and has proven himself as a batsman in England. With a little more luck, India could have won all three Tests, according to Kaif.