 "Ravi Shastri hails Gautam Gambhir after India win at Edgbaston despite resting Bumrah: 'Don’t see that smile too often'")
Indian cricket team’s historic victory against England at the Edgbaston has forced former head coach Ravi Shastri to change his stance and publicly praise Gautam Gambhir. Shastri was livid with Indian team management’s decision to rest Jasprit Bumrah in the second Test as they were already 1-0 behind in the five-match series.
This decision did not go down well with former Indian cricketer Shastri, who hit out at coach Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill for allowing a player to decide his availability when his team needed to wrest control back from the hosts.
“If he’s fit to play, he should play. That decision should be entirely in the hands of the captain and head coach…No ifs and buts, he should have been playing,” Shastri told Sky Cricket.
Shastri publicly praises Gambhir
India, however, hardly missed Bumrah in Birmingham as his replacement Akash Deep stepped up with a remarkable 10-wicket match haul and Mohamed Siraj took seven wickets, helping India win by a massive 336 runs , their first at Edgbaston.
Gambit, who took the bold decision to stick to his original plan and allow Bumrah a much-needed rest to manage his workload, was seen allowing himself a rare smile after the thunderous win at Edgbaston.
As the cameras panned toward the smiling Gambhir, Shastri was quick to praise the coach and his troops. “Don’t see that smile too often, but he deserves every bit of it. There is no better feeling for a coach than when you bounce back almost immediately to keep the series alive,” he said during commentary.
Gill reflects on historic Edgbaston win
Captain Gill also underlined how India improved drastically in all three departments to level the five-match series 1-1 after two matches.
“All the things we spoke about after the first game, we were spot on with all of those things. Our bowling and fielding was tremendous to see. On this kind of wicket, we knew if we get 400-500 on this kind of wicket, we’ll be in the game,” Gill said during the post-match presentation.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Not everytime we’re going to drop that many catches that we did in Headingley. They (fast bowlers) were magnificent and I think the way we were able to get through the top-order, that was important to us, and both those bowlers bowled brilliantly and even Prasidh, he didn’t get as many wickets as them, but he also bowled brilliantly,” he added.
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