Former IPL winner and India cricketer Mohammad Kaif has questioned head coach Gautam Gambhir following India’s clean sweep in the two-Test series against South Africa. The second Test, which concluded on November 26, saw the hosts endure a heavy 408-run defeat in Guwahati as the Proteas completed a whitewash, having won the opening Test in Kolkata by 30 runs. Ad During the post-game press conference, head coach Gautam Gambhir stated that India’s collapses are more mental than tactical. In a discussion on his YouTube channel, Kaif asserted that if this is the case, the team should bring in batters who can handle such situations. He added that the current set of batters are mostly white-ball specialists, unlike players such as Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran, who have experience in red-ball cricket. He said: Ad Trending “He must be realising this now. When Gautam came in the press conference and said the batters need to show they are mentally strong and technically sound, then bring in batters who can actually do that. All these batters who are playing right now are white-ball specialists. Very few of them play Ranji. The ones who play Ranji and score a thousand runs, like Sarfaraz Khan and Easwaran, you take any name, there are many. Karun Nair scored so many runs in Indian conditions, then got a few chances and was dropped again.” Ad He also raised concerns about the No. 3 spot, pointing out that Washington Sundar was tried there in the first Test. Kaif noted that this reflects the current state of Indian cricket, which lacks a reliable No. 3 batter, unlike Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara, who consistently excelled in this key position in the past. He said: “So I am saying, go forward with the ones who perform well in domestic cricket. Look at the situation now, Washington Sundar is playing at number three. This is the condition of Indian cricket right now. You do not have a proper number three batter. Number three was Rahul Dravid and Pujara, they gave their whole lives to that position. Pujara kept scoring hundreds. He did not even get out in Australia. He batted the whole day. Who bats the whole day? First tell me that.” Ad India has been unable to settle on a consistent No. 3 batter, experimenting with seven different players in that spot since September 2024. “He is very smart” Mohammad Kaif’s praise for the veteran all-rounder following the South Africa series In the same video, Mohammad Kaif emphasized that for Test cricket, India needs batters who can occupy the crease for an entire day and consistently score runs. He cited Ravindra Jadeja as an example, noting that early in his career, Jadeja focused mainly on his bowling and took years to develop his batting through dedicated effort. He said: Ad “For Test cricket, you need Test-match batting fitness, batting the whole day, batting a day and a half. Bring in players who can do that. Bring in a player who consistently scores runs. Why is Jadeja able to do it? Because at the start of his career, for the first five, six, seven years, he focused only on bowling. He is very smart. He never showed off saying he is an all-rounder. He showed that he is a bowler who can bat. He took time with his batting. He spent eight or nine years working on it. Only after that did he come forward and say that he can bat as well.” Jadeja has featured in 89 Tests, scoring 4, 095 runs at an average of 38. 27, including 28 fifties and six centuries. He has also taken 348 wickets at an average of 25. 11, with 15 five-wicket hauls to his credit. × Feedback Why did you not like this content? Clickbait / Misleading Factually Incorrect Hateful or Abusive Baseless Opinion Too Many Ads Other Was this article helpful? Thank You for feedback Follow IPL Auction 2025 Live Updates, News & Biddings at Sportskeeda. Get the fastest updates on Mega-Auction and cricket news Edited by Dev Sharma.
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