'Chance missed to earn respect': Mohammad Kaif continues potshot at Shubman Gill with sensational take

Shubman Gill has been under fire, particularly by Mohammad Kaif, for some of his calls in the ongoing tour of England. Kaif was back at it again on Wednesday as India-England engaged in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Manchester. This time it was about team selection as India decided to make three changes in the playing XI. However, the one which got Kaif riled up was the omission of Karun Nair. The batter was replaced by Sai Sudharsan in the XI as Gill confirmed during the toss, which England won and opted to field.

"Today was Shubman Gill's chance to back Karun who was down but deserved one more chance. He should have picked Karun Nair. Chance missed to earn the respect when it comes to making tough decisions as a leader," wrote Kaif on X.

Both Sudharsan and Nair were part of India's XI in the series opener at Headingley, Leeds - where the visitors were crushed by five wickets. While Sudharsan occupied the No.3 slot, Nair batted down the order. The next two matches saw the management try Nair at No. 3 and kept Sudharsan on the bench. But with Nair failing to capitalise on the opportunities while others heaped runs, dropping him and trying out Sudharsan made complete sense.

Ex-India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar patted the decision to bring Sudharsan back. Before the match began, Manjrekar speaking on JioStar noted: “It was an emotional story where he said, 'Cricket, give me another chance'. Cricket gave him another chance. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to catch it. And, you know, we have Sai Sudarshan coming back. So that was the story. Good to see Sai Sudharsan back, because I thought he should have played the second test as well.”

Meanwhile, this isn't the first time Kaif has been critical of Gill's call during the course of the series. In fact after the 22-run loss at Lord's, Kaif sharing his thoughts while speaking on his YouTube channel questioned the Indian captain's decision of allowing Mohammed Siraj to change the ball.