Gautam Gambhir's 'fixation' will 'never work', head coach badgered by former India and Australia cricketers

India's XI for the second Test against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham has T20 cricket written all over it. Two all-rounders replacing a specialist batter and a pacer who can who can bat a bit, left India with only five designated batters and three specialist bowlers. Having batters till No.8 and six bowling options has been India head coach Gautam Gambhir's template. It has worked for him in white-ball cricket, especially in T20s. Be it the IPL or international cricket, Gambhir's fondness for all-rounders has brought results. But the same style has hurt him in Test cricket. It did against New Zealand at home. Then in Australia, and if India don't get the desired result in Edgbaston, England will be added to that list. Indian captain Shubman Gill and coach Gautam Gambhir during a practice session(PTI)

After choosing a predictable XI for the series opener in Birmingham, which they lost by five wickets despite dominating the match for a better period, India pressed the panic button. They rang in three changes. One of them was, of course, due to Jasprit Bumrah's workload management. The other two can be credited to Gambhir's 'fixation' for all-rounders.

Calling India's selection "baffling," former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody said packing the team with all-rounders has never worked in 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 replaced Jasprit Bumrah with pacer Akash Deep and brought in seam-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy in place of Shardul Thakur, and the third change was another surprising one. They dropped Sai Suidharsan, who batted at No.3 on is Test debut in Headingley, made way for Washington Sundar.

Sudharsan was caught down the leg side for a duck in the first innings but played a decent knock in the second. Former India batter Subramanium Badrinath said it was a harsh call to drop a youngster after just one Test.

"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 selection of Sundar was a strange one in more than one way. After the assistance that Ravindra Jadeja got on Day 5 of the first Test from the rough created on the left-hander's off stump on a placid Headingley pitch, the chorus to include Kuldeep Yadav as the lead spinner grew, especially considering the conditions at Birmingham, the venue for the second Test. Ever since the advent of Bazball cricket, Edgbaston has produced some of the flattest tracks that naturally tend to offer something to the spinner towards the end of the five-day affair.

India, however, did not pick Kuldeep and went with Washington Sundar as their second spin-bowling option. Captain Shubman Gill said it was due to batting depth.

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