India's shoddy performances in the Adelaide Test, where they lost by 10 wickets against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, and in the ongoing third match in Brisbane, sparked speculation from former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali of a divide in the Indian dressing room, with captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir "not being on the same page."
Amid a start-stop three days of action at the Gabba due to rain, India witnessed a one-man show in what has been a forgettable outing for the tourists. Jasprit Bumrah has been the only standout performer for India, picking up a second five-wicket haul in the series, en route to finishing with 6 for 76 in the first innings, but Australia set a 445-run total. The Aussie fast bowlers then reduced India to 48 for four.
Adelaide had witnessed a similar show, with Bumrah leading the Indian attack with his 4 for 61, but the home team scored 337 in their first innings. In response, none of the Indian batters managed to score even a fifty as Australia were set only a 19-run target, which was chased down in 20 deliveries.
‘Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir are not on the same page’
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Basit speculated that the Indian captain and head coach have not been on the same page since Gambhir was appointed as Rahul Dravid's successor in July, earlier this year.
{{/usCountry}}Speaking on his YouTube channel, Basit speculated that the Indian captain and head coach have not been on the same page since Gambhir was appointed as Rahul Dravid's successor in July, earlier this year.
{{/usCountry}}"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.
"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."
Basit explained his statement by pointing out the bowling combination picked in the first three matches of the Australia Test series. He felt with Australia having three left-handers, it would have been wiser for India to pick either Washington Sundar or Ravichandran Ashwin, who were respectively picked for the first two matches, as opposed to Ravindra Jadeja, who replaced the senior offie for the Gabba match.
"I can explain it very easily," Basit said. "In all three Tests 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."
Basit also questioned India's decision to bowl first at the Gabba with an attack that largely depended on Jasprit Bumrah. He felt India are a shot of a left-arm pacer, which he labelled as a "weak link" in the team.
"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," he analysed.