Veteran India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar weighed in on the growing debate surrounding captain Shubman Gill’s workload management, insisting that the young skipper is fully capable of making his own decisions even as his neck injury threw India’s preparations for the second Test against South Africa in Guwahati into uncertainty.
Gill was forced to retire hurt after facing only three balls in India’s first innings of the opening Test at Eden Gardens. His condition worsened overnight, leading to hospitalisation in Kolkata and immediately ruling him out of the remainder of the match, which India eventually lost by 30 runs. With the second Test just days away, Gill’s availability remains in serious doubt.
Bhuvneshwar, however, refused to join the chorus calling for stricter oversight on the captain’s workload.
“Gill has become captain recently. If he so desires, he would speak out for himself,” the 35-year-old pacer said at the launch of his new ‘CricGiri’ app. “He is part of the think-tank, part of the decision-making. If he really needs rest, he will say that he needs rest. Mentally and physically he is in a position to say that.”
The defeat in Kolkata — despite South Africa setting a modest 124-run target — has reopened scrutiny of India’s approach at home, especially the decision to prepare a sharply turning track that produced variable bounce from day one and ended the contest inside three days.
{{/usCountry}}The defeat in Kolkata — despite South Africa setting a modest 124-run target — has reopened scrutiny of India’s approach at home, especially the decision to prepare a sharply turning track that produced variable bounce from day one and ended the contest inside three days.
{{/usCountry}}But Bhuvneshwar dismissed the noise around the pitch, pointing out that India have long played — and won — on similar surfaces.
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“This is not the first time a spin-friendly track has been prepared,” he said. “No one raised this question before because India was winning. Winning and losing is part of the game. It’s not that the team has not lost before or it has lost for the first time. I don’t think it’s a big worry.”
India fielded four spinners at Eden Gardens, a move that drew mixed reactions, but Bhuvneshwar defended the selection.
“The way the wicket was prepared, we all know the requirement was for four spinners,” he said. “We had good options and it was a turning track. The way the match went, it was a good decision.”
With Gill racing against time to recover, India may need to rethink both leadership and composition ahead of the must-win second Test in Guwahati, where conditions are expected to be far less extreme than the ones that defined the Kolkata collapse.