Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has urged current India coach Gautam Gambhir to remove the nature of the pitch out of the equation and instead work with the batters to ensure they put up tall scores on the board.
The 53-year-old felt that the current Indian side had succeeded in England a few months ago because they had put the runs on the board, which had helped them win two Tests and draw the series 2-2.
Ganguly reiterated that India should look to play on truer surfaces and aim to win Tests in five days and not in three days.
“Play on good wickets. I hope Gautam Gambhir is listening. He needs to take the wicket out of the game. Because if his batsmen are not putting up 350–400, he will not win Test matches. That’s the reason they won in England – because his batsmen put runs up on the board. He must play on good wickets. And trust his people. And win Test matches in 5 days. Not in 3 days,” Ganguly told NDTV.
Despite India’s poor run of results against top teams at home in the last 12 months, Ganguly said that he had a lot of time for Gambhir, the coach. The former southpaw said that India should play on good pitches because they had the quality in their bowling attack to win on truer wickets.
“I have got a lot of time for him. A lot of regard. He is a competitor. He has done well for India as a coach. But he must play on good wickets. Because he has got Bumrah, he has got Siraj, he has got Shami, he has got Kuldeep, he has got Jadeja,” he said.
Ganguly’s comments come after India went 1-0 down to South Africa in the first Test of the two-match series at Kolkata on Sunday. Chasing 124 runs for victory on a pitch turning square, India were bowled out for 93, thereby losing their fourth straight home Test to a SENA country.
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