‘Selectors and board should be calling the coach-captain and asking what happened’: Sunil Gavaskar slams India think tank for WTC Final loss

Following the heartbreak of India’s early exit from the 2021 T20 World Cup, the appointment of Rahul Dravid as the men’s team head coach brought about inevitable expectations. Could the men in blue cross the much dreaded final hurdle with Dravid at helm, and win a first ICC title since 2013?
A 10-wicket bashing in the T20 World Cup semifinal last year and a second straight World Test Championship Final succumbing later, the trophy drought has only extended further. Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar believes the coach and the think tank need to be inquired about some of their recent decision making.
At The Indian Express Idea Exchange, Gavaskar said, “The selectors and board should be asking questions, ‘Why did you field first (at WTC final)?. Okay, it was explained at the toss that it was overcast and all. The question after that should be, you didn’t know about Travis Head’s weakness against the short ball?”

While India were put under scanner for their decision to field first at The Oval with four seamers and one spinner, the delay in their bouncer barrage to Travis Head was further questioned the likes of Nasser Hussain, who’d put the southpaw’s 163 on-air as, “the horse had bolted then”.

According to Cricviz, only 20 percent of the first 30 deliveries bowled to Head on Day one were short balls. As it happened, the left-hander went on to add 285 runs for the fourth wicket with Steve Smith – the biggest partnership of the summit clash.
Gavaskar asks the same question as he draws the scene inside commentary box at The Oval, “Why was the bouncer employed only when he had scored 80 runs. You know, the moment Head came into the bat, in the commentary box, we had Ricky Ponting saying, ‘Bounce him, bounce him.’ Everyone knew about it but we didn’t try. Mind you, if I was in the commentary box, I would never tell anyone about an India player’s weakness. This is where the selection committee should be calling both captain and coach and asking, ‘Hello, what happened?’.”
The former India batter believes the aforementioned instances of decision making aren’t one-off and bring to question the accountability of the captain as well.

“That kind of thing doesn’t happen. Whether you win or lose, the captain knows that he is going to be there. This has not been a recent case, mind you. This has been happening since 2011. There have been results where we have been wiped out in the series 0-4, 0-4 but the captain hasn’t changed,” Gavaskar added.