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Days after Sri Lanka held India to a draw in the Colombo Test, it has emerged that Test captain Shubman Gill wanted to declare India’s innings before tea on Day 2 rather than carry on until the end of the day. However, head coach Gautam Gambhir was against the move, sources told CricBlogger.
According to the sources, Gambhir wanted Dhruv Jurel to complete his century, and that delayed the declaration. Jurel eventually reached his hundred, but the additional time spent batting had a significant impact on India’s bowling effort.
With Sri Lanka following on, India’s bowlers were eventually left running on empty, while there was too little time left in the match for the Indian batters to return and bat again, giving the bowlers the much-needed rest.
In all, India bowled 243 overs after enforcing the follow-on. In the end, Sri Lanka’s grit and resistance denied India what appeared to be a strong chance of securing their second Test win of the series.
When CricBlogger tried to reach out to the team management for a response, no one was available for comment. “There is growing concern that the coach is overruling the captain on too many occasions, and that appears to be happening far too often,” the source said.
For a young captain like Gill, having his authority respected is equally important. Differences of opinion are inevitable, but if the captain and coach are not on the same page on crucial decisions, it can eventually become a bigger issue than the result of any one Test match. The Colombo draw may have been officially recorded as a missed opportunity, but the bigger question is whether India can afford such a captain-coach disconnect going forward.
