Gautam Gambhir Slams Virat Kohli for Giving Bumrah a Two-Over Opening Spell

Team India suffered second consecutive defeat against Australia and with that also lost the three match One Day International (ODI) series. Former India player Gautam Gambhir was clearly unhappy with Virat Kohli’s captaincy and criticized his decision to give their Premier pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah a two-over opening spell only.

Gambhir said that it is very important to take wickets upfront to stop such a strong batting line up and he could not understand why Bumrah bowled just two overs with the new ball. He further said that in a ODI match, normally there are three spells of 4-3-3 overs and this is not T20 cricket, so that was poor captaincy.

Gambhir Surprised with Team Selection
Gambhir also said that Team India could have given chance to Washington Sundar or Shivam Dube if they were facing problem with the sixth bowling option. Gambhir looked surprised with the team selection as such players were not taken to Australia.

In the second ODI also, Indian bowlers conceded a lot of runs. Australia posted a mammoth total of 389 runs as the Indian bowlers had an off day as Smith along with Finch, Warner, Labuschagne and Maxwell smashed the Indian bowlers all over the park. It was always going to be a difficult target to chase and it proved to be true as India lost the match by 51 runs. Now in the third ODI, Indian team will look to play for pride and at least end the series on a high.

Reaction on Social Media

Chota muh badi baat: Virat Kohli should leave captaincy and focus on his batting like Sachin Tendulkar did.

— Godman Chikna (@Madan_Chikna) November 30, 2020

India vs Australia: ‘Can’t understand that kind of captaincy’, Gautam Gambhir not happy with Virat Kohli’s handling of Jasprit Bumrah
I think Rohit sharma is the best captain in all cricket why all dashing bowler perfomance is good for mumbai indians because Hit man is Captain

— Gautam Jha (@GautamJ06053890) November 30, 2020

Virat Kohli has been struggling with his captaincy. His planning and strategies aren't working out well. He is failing to get the team motivated enough.#AUSvIND #INDvAUS #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/h51dcnJsk2

— Fenil Kothari CA (@fenilkothari) November 29, 2020

I agree with @GautamGambhir on Bumrah bowling only 2 overs upfront is a blunder. In old days, premier bowlers used to bowl 6 upfront, i would atleast give 4 since the ball is hard and batsman is new and most vulnerable. #AUSvsIND

— Cricket With Sanket (@awesomesanket) November 30, 2020

Also Read: Reasons for Team India’s poor performance against Australia