India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir came down heavily on a flat Barsapara Stadium track where India chased down a record 406 against the West Indies with skipper Shubman Gill hitting a double hundred and former captain Rohit Sharma smashing his 35th century.
Not to forget the centuries scored by West Indies batters John Campbell, skipper Shai Hope and rising star Amir Jangoo.
Even after a comfortable chase, Gambhir’s irritation was palpable.
“If I have to be absolutely honest, I feel there has to be a bit more contest between bat and ball. This is not cricket, this is only batting. Imagine a young bowler bowling on this wicket, and the opposition getting 400 and then we go on to chase 400,” Gambhir told Parthiv Patel during a conversation with JioStar after winning the second ODI on Wednesday (September 30).
Five centuries and a total of 800 plus runs in an ODI might be enthralling for the spectators but the uneven contest turns bowlers into bystanders, reckoned Gambhir.
“Obviously, for the records, for the crowd, it’s outstanding, but if you ask me as a genuine cricket fan and as a coach, because I have to have sympathy for the bowlers as well.
“When you bowl on this kind of a wicket, it’s not fair for the bowlers. So, we’ve got to give something to the bowlers so there’s at least something which they can work with,” he added.
Without specifying the rule changes, Gambhir said unless there is some margin for the bowlers, there won’t be much option left for them.
“You need a bit of margin for the bowlers. Often, you can’t be hard on bowlers, because sometimes bowling figures are such that they haven’t bowled as poorly as their figures suggest. Because the margin is very small.
“Plus, with five fielders inside, two new balls, and the kind of power-hitting there is now, bowlers don’t really have many options,” Gambhir made some very meaningful observations.
Young bowlers Gurnoor Brar and Auqib Nabi went for 96 and 84 against a marauding West Indies line-up but the head coach was sympathetic.
“As a coach, as a support staff, the first thing you look at is: Were they able to execute their bowling or their plans properly? If they were able to do that, then you aren’t that hard on them. If you get too hard just looking at their analysis, then we will never be able to develop bowlers.
“Auqib Nabi was playing his first game. So somewhere, you need to give them a bit of support and keep a bit of an extra cushion for them. But unfortunately, there wasn’t much for any bowler in this game.”
Gambhir believes in putting players under the pump and hence Nabi was handed an India game with the series still alive.
“We were 1-0 up in the series, but we gave Auqib an opportunity. We could have given him the opportunity in the next match too, when it’s a dead rubber.
“But in a dead rubber, you don’t have that pressure which comes with the pressure of winning a series. And we all know that the World Cup is all about pressure,” he said.
Cricket isn’t going to change much, bat and ball won’t change, only the pressure will be different because the World Cup comes once in four years.
Gambhir said the second ODI was a great learning experience for someone like Brar.
“For example, having Gurnoor bowl in the first 10 overs and then bowling at the death, I know people will talk about his analysis, but the more he bowls in tough conditions, in tough situations, the better it is for Indian cricket.
“Because you can have him (Gurnoor) bowl in the middle overs and get him to improve his analysis or stats and make him bowl defensively, but the more we expose them at such times, the better it is for Indian cricket.”
Gill has ticked all boxes as skipper
While Gambhir didn’t want to discuss Gill’s second double century, he did mention that the young skipper is ticking all boxes as far as managing his leadership along with his batting.
“I’m not going to talk about his records because records are meant to be broken. But I think the responsibility that he’s taken, because a lot of times we feel that once you become a captain of two formats, you don’t want your performance to go down, but his performance has only gone up since he took over as a captain in England.”
What Gambhir likes about Gill is that he is a bowlers’ captain.
“He ticks all the boxes, he’s a nice guy, he’s got a lot of respect in the dressing room, people listen to him and, more importantly, his performances are showing as well.
“And the most impressive thing that I think of him is that he’s becoming a bowlers’ captain. He knows how difficult it is for the bowlers in this format, and once you do that, you will always earn that respect in the dressing room,” he said.
Published – October 01, 2026 06:41 pm IST
