BCCI Warned About Gautam Gambhir's 'Strange' Tactics: 'Another Sound Beating...'

BCCI Warned About Gautam Gambhir's 'Strange' Tactics: 'Another Sound Beating...'

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Last Updated: August 16, 2025, 17:36 IST

Sanjay Manjrekar has warned India will suffer 'sound beatings' in Test cricket if the BCCI doesn't correct Gautam Gambhir's 'strange' tactics.

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Gautam Gambhir was heavily criticised during the England series. (Instagram Screegrab)

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has strongly warned the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) of Gautam Gambhir’s ‘strange’ tactics in England, saying that were these not looked into in detail, it might lead to another ‘sound beating’ in Tests. Manjrekar credited India’s 2-2 series draw in England to the young team led by Shubman Gill, but said the visitors would have won the trophy had the strategies been better.

Gambhir, who became India’s coach last year, has pivoted to a batting-heavy strategy, in contrast to the bowling-favoring one under Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid. It meant playing several all-rounders for batting depth, not picking an attacking spinner in Kuldeep Yadav, and the team being overly reliant on the three or four main bowlers to constantly chip in with wickets on flat surfaces.

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“(Yashasvi) Jaiswal, Gill, (KL) Rahul & (Rishabh) Pant & even Washy (Washington Sundar) are your safe bets even against quality opposition but I fear for India’s seam bowling and its strange tactics led by Gambhir with regards to playing XIs and bowling changes, if these controllables were handled better, India would have beaten the natives 3-1 you would think," Manjrekar wrote in his column for The Hindustan Times.

“That a class act like Kuldeep did not feature at all will remain one of the shocks of the series, when you are playing an opposition with a very weak bowling attack and a strange batting approach such selection blunders can cost you. A similar approach versus Australia and India would pay a heavy price for it, like we saw recently in the BGT. In the current euphoria these tactical mistakes if not questioned by the selectors and the BCCI, leave India vulnerable to another sound beating against a good side," he added.

This was only the second positive result of Gambhir’s campaign in Tests. Under him, India beat Bangladesh at home, were whitewashed by New Zealand, and then lost to Australia away.

‘Sorry to burst your bubble’

Manjrekar also denied that this series, contrasting to a recent popular opintion, was one of the all-time great contests in the sport.

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“No, it wasn’t," he wrote. “For starters, sorry to burst the bubble, it has to be one of the weakest bowling attacks from both sides that I have seen in a series featuring two main stream teams."

Taking aim at Jasprit Bumrah, he added: “The one bowler with great skills and ability had a bizarre approach to playing in this series even before it began, so bowling greatness or excellence was seen very sporadically over 175 hours of Test cricket."

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First Published: August 16, 2025, 17:36 IST

News cricket BCCI Warned About Gautam Gambhir's 'Strange' Tactics: 'Another Sound Beating...'

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