Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has asserted that the credit for India's remarkable Test victory over Bangladesh in Kanpur should go to Rohit Sharma rather than newly appointed coach Gautam Gambhir. Gavaskar highlighted that under Rohit Sharma's captaincy, India has embraced an aggressive style of cricket over the past few years, suggesting the label "Gohit" to describe this bold approach.
In a strongly worded column for Sportstar, Gavaskar expressed his disappointment at Gambhir receiving recognition for India's strategy in the Kanpur Test, labelling it as "foot-licking of the highest order."
While acknowledging that India's approach was refreshing, Gavaskar criticised the nicknames people have coined to associate with it. He argued that it is unjust to credit Gambhir for the team’s tactics, drawing a comparison to how England attributed their success to head coach Brendon McCullum.
"While the England batting approach changed completely under the new regime of Ben Stokes and McCullum, we have seen over the last couple of years that Rohit has been batting like this and encouraging his team to do so as well. Gambhir has only been coaching for a couple of months, so attributing this approach to him is foot-licking of the highest quality. Gambhir himself hardly ever batted in this fashion like McCullum used to do. If any credit is due, it is solely to Rohit and nobody else," Gavaskar wrote.
"Just as any scandal is now called this-gate or that-gate after the Watergate scandal over 50 years ago in the United States of America, this Indian batting approach was labelled this-ball and that-ball after the term “Bazball” was coined for the England team’s batting attitude. It was called this because “Baz” is the nickname of their coach, Brendon McCullum from New Zealand, who batted exactly as his team is doing — throwing caution to the winds in an attempt to score runs," he added.
As Gavaskar highlighted, the Kanpur Test was headed towards a damp draw after two-and-a-half-days of the Test match was washed out due to rain and wet outfield at Green Park stadium.
Gavaskar credited the International Cricket Council for introducing the World Test Championship, saying any team would have looked at setting for a draw had it not been for the WTC points that were on offer.
"However refreshing and thrilling the Indian batting was in the Kanpur Test match, let’s face it: would they have batted in the same manner if there were no points on offer? The much-maligned ICC deserves every bit of applause for changing the perception towards every Test match by creating the World Test Championship," he wrote.
Bangladesh resumed their first innings at 107 for 3 as late as the morning session on Day 4. Indian bowlers came out all guns blazing and bowled out the visiting side for 233. India needed less than two sessions to go past Bangladesh's first innings total and secure a 52-run lead.
Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal set the tone for India, scoring the first team fifty in just 3.1 overs. India broke the world records for the fastest 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 as they scored at over 8 runs per over. Rohit danced down the track in the very first delivery he faced and hit a six and followed it up with another one. Rohit made just 23 from 11 balls, but his knock influenced the outcome of the game.
India managed to bowl Bangladesh out for 146 in the second innings and secured the win with a session left, leaving the world in awe.
