 "Ravi Shastri sends stern message to coach Gautam Gambhir after Headingley heartbreak: 'You've got to be hard at times'")
Former Indian cricket team coach Ravi Shastri has a stern message for incumbent Gautam Gambhir on how to handle the dressing room after the Headingley heartbreak, in which Shubman Gill and Co lost the match to England from a winning position .
Despite Indian batters scoring five centuries in the match, including two from Rishabh Pant, Team India was not able to cross the 500-run mark even once. They also set England a mammoth target of 371, but that was chased down with some comfort on Day 5 as Indian bowlers were guilty of constantly losing their line and lengths and fielders dropped multiple catches.
Shastri says Team India needs more help from lower order
Analysing India’s loss after their bossed the first four days of the first Test at Leeds, Shastri said that the team needs more fight from the lower-order. They need to take more pride in their batting.
“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.
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In the first innings, India were bowled out for 471 despite being 430/4 at one stage. Similarly, in the second essay, they lost their last six wickets for just 77 runs.
Shastri added that the coaching staff, led by Gambhir, needs to keep the unit motivated for the upcoming four matches of the Test series.
“I think (there is) a big role of the coaching staff. Take the positives out of the contest. As a captain, he (Shubman Gill) 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.
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Shastri asks Gambhir to be ‘hard’ as coach
India dropped seven catches in the match, with Yashasvi Jaiswal dropping four of them. Shastri said that while dropping catches are not in the captain’s or coach’s control, they need to work harder on that point as a unit. He also advised Gambhir to be more stern in the dressing room to extract the best possible reaction to a disappointing loss.
“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.
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