Team India’s poor form continues from the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which they lost by 10 wickets against Australia. In the ongoing third Test of the series in Brisbane, the struggling form of players continues. Among all these things, there are speculations going on that everything is not good in the Indian camp. Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali feels that there is something wrong in the Indian dressing room between the skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir, claiming that they are ‘not on the same page.”
In the third Test at the Gabba, due to rain, India’s game is getting disturbed again and again, but the game witnessed a one-man show from Jasprit Bumrah against Jasprit Bumrah. He is the only player from the Indian side who managed to perform, picking up six wickets in the Test, giving away 76 runs in the first innings, but still, Australian batters set up a total of 445 runs. The Australian bowlers have now reduced India to 131 for five.
“Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir are not on the same page.” – Basit Ali
Basit Ali, in his YouTube channel, stated that both the Indian skipper and head coach are not on the same page; Gambhir got this role after Rahul Dravid’s tenure ended in July this year.
“Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir are not on the same page, be it in the one-day tournament in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, which was a weak series, or the New Zealand series after that. In the second and third (tests), they (Rohit and Gambhir) are not on the same page, like Rahul Dravid was. He and Rohit were not on the same page.”
Further, Basit said that he can explain his statement, as in all three Tests India played with different spinners. He believes that there are three left-handers in the Aussies batting, so why not India pick either Washington Sundar or Ravichandran Ashwin?
“I can explain it very easily. In all three Test matches, a different spinner played. In two Test 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.”
“Jasprit Bumrah vs Australia & Travis Head vs India” – Basit Ali
Basit also questioned India's decision to bowl first at the Gabba. He stated that India is only dependent on Bumrah; the rest are not performing like they should. This problem is not being solved by Rohit Sharma, Morne Morkel, and Gautam Gambhir. He even stated that India doesn’t have a left-arm fast bowler in their squad, which is a weak link.
“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 doesn’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.”