Sunil Gavaskar warns Gautam Gambhir: Drop part-time all-rounders or risk another WTC Final slip

Sunil Gavaskar warns Gautam Gambhir (PTI Photo)

Following the loss to South Africa in Kolkata last week, Sunil Gavaskar gave BCCI selection committee and team management, including head coach Gautam Gambhir, a harsh wake-up call on Tuesday. He urged them to have faith in domestic heavy scorers and cautioned against selecting limited-overs style, part-time all-rounders in Test format.

Gavaskar emphasised that Test cricket need patience and specialists rather than ego-driven batting or short-term selections, even if he did not specifically name anyone. He warned if India doesn't change their ways right away, they could miss the World Test Championship (WTC) final once more.

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After batters once again failed against spin at home, Gavaskar wrote in his Sportstar column that India's defeat at Eden Gardens should serve as a wake-up call for the team's management. The 30-run loss in just three days, according to the legendary batter, was a result of both international players' propensity to spend little time on domestic pitches and the management's unwillingness to trust domestic heavy scorers.

"The defeat to South Africa will hopefully open the eyes of those who matter to look at the heavy scorers in domestic cricket, who are used to playing on pitches where the ball spins and keeps low. The international players are so busy playing overseas that they do not have practice playing on domestic pitches, and so are found wanting," he wrote.

"Test batting demands patience and, more importantly, the willingness to leave your ego in the changing room. It does not matter if you get beaten and rapped on the leg guards. You do not have to try and tonk the ball out of the ground to show who is the boss. The only boss is the one who stays humble and accepts that at this level, the bowler will beat you, and so waits a bit till the scoreable ball comes along."

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Additionally, Gavaskar subtly mocked Agarkar and Gambhir for continuing to support Nitish Kumar Reddy as a Test all-rounder. He clarified that a true all-rounder in Test cricket is able to fit into the playing XI as both a batter and a bowler, even though the legendary batter did not use his name.

"India also needs to understand the difference between a Test all-rounder and a limited-overs all-rounder. A genuine Test all-rounder is someone who could make the eleven solely as a batter or as a bowler. A player who only offers a few overs or a few runs is not what Test cricket demands. A proper batter who can chip in with the ball is fine, just as a regular bowler who can hold up an end with the bat is valuable. But selecting a player who would not make the side purely as a batter or as a bowler might work in the short term, yet it does not add real value," Gavaskar wrote.

Reddy hardly contributed with the ball in either of the two games during the home Test series against the West Indies last month, which led to harsh criticism of the team management. In the first innings of the Ahmedabad opener, he rolled his arms for just four overs, and in the final Test in Delhi, he was not asked to bowl.

Gavaskar said that failure to comprehend the demands of Test cricket versus limited-overs forms could result in India missing the WTC final once more, as they did in June, as they will not be playing a home Test in more than a year.

"After this South Africa series, India will not play a home Test for over a year. All the more reason that there is clarity about the difference between Tests and limited-overs games, and about the requirements for the different formats. If not, India could miss the World Test Championship final again, just as they did this June."