Former Mumbai Indian cricketer Tirumalasetti Suman has called out head coach Gautam Gambhir and co. for taking rest for the series against Zimbabwe. Suman highlighted that the Indian coaches were not part of any IPL team and thus had a two-month break.
VVS Laxman has taken charge of the team for the Zimbabwe tour. Meanwhile, India recently suffered a 0-2 series loss against Ireland. The Men in Blue suffered a 0-4 T20I series loss against England and then suffered a 1-2 ODI series loss against Harry Brook’s team.
“For this series, India have an entirely new support staff. This is quite surprising because the same thing should continue for all the white-ball series. This is strange. These coaches (Gambhir and Co.) were not part of any IPL team and had a two-and-a-half-month gap. They played only ten matches after the IPL. Why do you need rest? After this, there is a gap till the Sri Lanka series again. So this is a big question mark,” Suman said in a video on his YouTube channel.
Suman reckons India’s morale would be low after suffering six losses on the trot on the UK tour.
“India’s run has been concerning. Now they are playing a second-string side, but the full-strength team played against Ireland and England. Shreyas is still looking for his first win, morale is slightly down, and confidence is also low. On the other hand, despite the T20I series loss against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe have had a good run in the last month and a half. Their squad is also decent.”
The 42-year-old, who played for Hyderabad in the domestic circuit, added that India would not want to take Zimbabwe lightly in the T20I series.
“Zimbabwe cannot be taken lightly, as we saw what they did in the T20 World Cup. It is also India’s second-string team. We are looking at some new faces here. Except Prince Yadav, all the other pacers have an economy of 11 or more. Prince was also recently dropped and he has also gone for runs. So clearly, it is an inexperienced bowling attack,” he said.
Suman added that players like Krunal Pandya and Rajat Patidar could have been picked in the squad for the Zimbabwe series after an impressive run in the IPL.
He concluded, “Looking at this squad, I feel like a left-arm spinner like Krunal could have been given an opportunity, even a batter like Rajat Patidar. The selectors thought otherwise, but it could have been an ideal situation to bring them in this series. It was quite strange for me.”
Zimbabwe were 109-5 after 18 overs in the first T20I.
