India’s woes in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy continued to deepen as the visitors once again find their backs to the wall in the Brisbane Test after Rohit Sharma‘s decision to bowl first at the Gabba backfired and Australia raced to a big first-innings total. Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali believes one of the reasons for the team’s inconsistent show so far is because captain Rohit and head coach Gautam Gambhir are not on the same page.
India’s bowlers, barring Jasprit Bumrah, once again failed to apply pressure, which allowed Travis Head and Steve Smith to stitch a 241-run partnership and score centuries to put India on the backfoot.
India bowling coach Morne Morkel explains why India chose to bowl first in Brisbane
Bumrah finished with six wickets to help India bowl Australia out for 445 on the third morning.
“Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir are not on the same page, be it the one-day tournament in Sri Lanka; Bangladesh, which was a weak series; or the New Zealand series after that,” said Basit on his YouTube channel.
Incidentally, the opening Test that India won in Perth had Bumrah leading the side in the absence of Rohit, who was on paternity level following the birth of his second child.
India dominated Australia in Perth to win by 295 runs, but the batting fared poorly in the pink-ball Test at Adelaide, which Australia won by 10 wickets to make it 1-1 in the five-Test series.
“In the second and third (Tests), they (Rohit and Gambhir) are not on the same page, like Rahul Dravid was. He and Rohit were on the same page,” Basit added, comparing Gambhir with his predecessor.
Steve Smith: ‘I had a great seat in the house to watch Travis Head bat’
Gambhir was appointed the head coach after Dravid’s tenure ended following the T20 World Cup in June earlier this year.
“I can explain it very easily,” Basit said. “In all three Tests matches, a different spinner played. In two Tests matches, they batted after winning the toss, but here they chose to bowl.
“There are three left-handers in the Australian batting….So why not (Washington) Sundar and why not (Ravichandran) Ashwin? Anybody who understands cricket will definitely talk about it.”
While India opted for off-spinners in the first two Tests, Sundar in Perth and Ashwin in Adelaide, the team management went with left-armer Ravindra Jadeja as the only specialist spinner in the eleven at Brisbane.
Basit also questioned India’s decision to bowl first at the Gabba, which was largely based on the rain and overcast conditions prevalent on the opening day that saw just 13.2 overs of play.
Coming back on Day 2, other than Bumrah, none of India’s specialist bowlers could make the new ball count; and once the shine was off the red cherry, Head and Smith counter-attacked to put Australia in command.
Daniel Vettori bowls to India players in the nets at The Gabba
“Was the decision to bowl first right? I think it was not. The Indian team is only dependent on Bumrah. The rest of the bowlers are not performing like they should. If I say it’s Bumrah vs Australia, that will be right. Similarly, it’s Travis Head vs India…Neither Rohit, nor (bowling coach) Morne Morkel and (chief coach) Gautam Gambhir are able to solve this problem.
“India don’t have a left-arm fast bowler in their squad. That’s a weak link. We have seen Mir Hamza or Shaheen Shah Afridi accounting for Head because that’s a different angle. That’s why, if you see, Bumrah bowls round the wicket to Head,” Basit analysed.
India’s troubles compounded on the third morning when their top order once again failed in their response to Australia’s 445.
Barring KL Rahul (30 not), none among the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill had answers to Australia’s pace attack. Mitchell Starc took two wickets, while Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood took one each to reduce the visitors to 48 for 4 at tea on a stop-start day three that had multiple rain interruptions.