Picture Credit: X
Rohit Sharma-led Team India are in their prime form as they took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing three-match ODI series at home. While they won the opening match by four wickets in Nagpur, on the back of a match-winning century knock from Rohit Sharma, they continued their unbeaten run, clinching the series with a match still to go.
However, all things seemed fine in the Indian team, former cricketer Zaheer Khan expressed concerns over head coach Gautam Gambhir’s flexible approach. Speaking on a show with Cricbuzz, the former India pacer questioned the flexible approach in the Indian team, especially in white-ball cricket, while cautioning that it might lead to uncertainty among players.
You are creating insecurity: Zaheer Khan warns Gautam Gambhir-Rohit Sharma over “flexibility” in Team India
The former India pacer and the coach of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Zaheer Khan emphasised that flexibility is important, but it needs to come with clear guidelines, indirectly addressing the issue which has been prominent in the Indian team in the recent past. "You've said that you've got to have the flexibility. Numbers one and two will be there but the others are going to be flexible. Within that flexibility, some rules also apply. There are certain protocols you have to follow. Certain communication needs to happen, which is gonna streamline things," Zaheer Khan said while speaking on Cricbuzz. "Otherwise, you are creating insecurity, which, at some stage, will come back and hurt you. You don't want it to be the case. So you've got to be prepared to deal with that situation," he further added.
This remark from Khan comes after India’s frequent experimentation with the batting positions in the ongoing limited-overs series against England. It is to be noted that India shuffled their opening combination and number three batter in almost every match. Although in T20Is, it remained constant, the change was frequent in ODIs as Yashasvi Jaiswal partnered with Rohit Sharma in the opening match in Nagpur and then Shubman Gill opened with Rohit in the following match.
The 46-year-old further added, "That's why I said recency bias is something very strong right now. The situation has become dynamic if you have to compare Rahul Dravid's approach and Gautam Gambhir's approach. You can say it's good, bad or ugly, or you can say how do we adapt?” The former left-arm pacer also stressed that for Gambhir to succeed, there must be absolute clarity between coach, captain, selectors and players.
