Ravi Shastri sends blunt dressing room message to Gautam Gambhir over India’s fielding disaster
Ravi Shastri sends blunt message to Gautam Gambhir over India's fielding fiasco in Leeds Test, emphasizes need for improvement.
India’s batting collapse in the Leeds Test against England has prompted a raw message from former India coach Ravi Shastri to the present coaching panel headed by Gautam Gambhir. Shastri did not mince words, asserting that the team needs to tighten their basics and fielding.
In the words of Shastri, “This will be an hard pill to swallow for India. You don’t get into roles like that so often and blow it from there. They had an opportunity to put England out of the competition and set the terms. They need to learn and they need more bottle from the tail, for them to remain obstinate and put a price tag on their wicket.”
Shastri believes that the coaching staff has a significant role to play in improving the team’s performance. He remarked, “I believe (there is) a huge role of the coaching staff. Take the positives out of the match. As a captain, he (Shubman Gill) has done more than what you would expect from him. He scored a hundred; five hundreds were scored in the match. If anything, you would expect the basics to be executed better. There are things that are not in his control.”
Shastri also complimented the captaincy of Shubman Gill, that the skipper could have done nothing to stop the catches being dropped. “Missing catches is not his control. That is where the team overall can try harder and improve. Likewise, when you bat, you’ve got to put a price tag on your wicket. You cannot come out and blow a spot where you can make around 550-600 by just being shy and submissive.”
Shastri pinned importance on the coaching staff being hard on the players at times. “These are the areas where you’ve got to be hard at times as a coach, really hard in that dressing room. There are certain things where you tick off a few guys. But, there were a lot of positives in this Test.”
