Ravi Shastri Sends Blunt Dressing Room Message To Gautam Gambhir Over Fielding Fiasco
The first Test between India and England in Leeds turned out to be a classical tutorial of how not to field in international cricket. A number of players dropped multiple catches as India slipped to a 5-wicket defeat against the hosts in the opening match of the 5-match series. The butterfingers in the field turned out to be a decisive factor behind the tourists' defeat, prompting former India head coach Ravi Shastri to send a direct message to the incumbent Gautam Gambhir and his coaching staff.
Shastri didn't mince words after witnessing Team India put on one of its worst displays in the field, with Yashasvi Jaiswal dropping as many as 4 catches.
"This will be a tough pill for India to swallow. You don't get in positions like this very often, and blow it from there. They had a chance to take England out of the contest and dictate terms. They have to learn and they need more bottle from the tail, for them to be stubborn and put a price tag on their wicket," Shastri said on Sky Sports.
"I think (there is) a big role of the coaching staff. Take the positives out of the contest. As a captain, he has done more than what can be asked of him. He got a hundred; there were five hundreds scored in the game. If anything, you want the basics to be done better. There are things that are out of his control.
India captain Shubman Gill also courted criticism for some of his tactical calls. While these are early days for Gill as a captain of India's Test team, Shastri doesn't think the skipper could've done anything to prevent those catches from being dropped.
"Dropping catches is not in his control. That's where the team as a unit can work harder and get better. Similarly, when you come to bat, you've got to put a price tag on your wicket. You can't come out and blow a situation where you can get about 550-600 by just being timid and meek.
"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,"
said Shastri.
Source: NDTV