Gautam Gambhir’s ‘Fixation’ Will ‘Never Work’: Head Coach Under Fire by Former India & Australia Cricketers

Gautam Gambhir’s ‘Fixation’ Will ‘Never Work’: The T20 cricket is baked in the batter of India XI picked up to play the second Test against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham. India were left with five designated batters and three specialist bowlers as two all-rounders were used instead of one specialist batter and a pacer who can bat a bit.

This is the blueprint of India head coach Gautam Gambhir to have as many batters as possible till No.8 and as many bowling options as possible. It has proven to be successful in white ball cricket particularly T20s. Whether it is in IPL or in international cricket, Gambhir has always liked all-rounders and it can be said that it has paid off.

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However this approach has cut him short in the Test cricket. It did against New Zealand in home soil. Then in Australia, and should India fail to obtain the result desired in Edgbaston, there will be England added to that list.

India hit the panic button after deciding to use a predictable XI in the first match of the series in Birmingham which they lost by five wickets, even though they had controlled the match, better part of the time. They hearkened to three rungs. It was, of course, one of the reasons that was caused by the workload management of one of them such as Jasprit Bumrah. The other two may be attributed to the fact that Gambhir has an obsession with all-rounders.

Former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody has termed India as having made a baffling choice by fielding all-rounders when he called packing the team "has never worked in the Test cricket."

"India’s selection for this test is baffling. No Bumrah is one thing, but to only have 5 specialist batsmen is a gamble. The fixation on all-rounders who are there to offer depth with bat and ball has never worked. Specialists are always going to offer more over a test," Moody wrote on X.

India’s selection for this test is baffling. No Bumrah is one thing, but to only have 5 specialist batsmen is a gamble.
The fixation on all-rounders who are there to offer depth with bat and ball has never worked. Specialists are always going to offer more over a test. #ENGvIND

— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) July 2, 2025

The first change made by India was the replacement of Jasprit Bumrah who had tired legs replaced by pacer Akash Deep and the second change is another shocking one as Shardul Thakur was replaced by a seam bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy. They have replaced Sai Suidharsan, who batted No.3 in is Test debut in Headingley, with Washington Sundar.

In the first innings Sudharsan drove straight to the fielder at the leg side without opening his account but got a good innings in the second. Subramanium Badrinath, a former India batter, called it a cruel decision of replacing a youngster after only one Test.

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"Sai scored a crucial 30 and was involved in an important partnership in the second innings. Dropping a youngster high on confidence doesn’t feel right," Badrinath wrote on X.

The choice about Sundar was in itself a peculiar choice. Following the support that Ravindra Jadeja received on Day 5 of first Test because of the rough formed on the off stump of the left hander on a flat Headingley track, the voices to induct Kuldeep Yadav as the lead spinner became louder, especially with the kind of conditions awaited in Birmingham, the second testing centre.

Edgbaston has been home to some of the smoothest surfaces ever since Bazball cricket Method was introduced and these tracks, upon themselves bear the natural inclination of leaving a little bit to the spinner by the end of the showpiece of five days of cricket.

However, India has not chosen Kuldeep and opted to have Washington Sundar as the second spinner. This is what Captain Shubman Gill attributed to depth in batting.

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