India's Team Selection Influenced More By Gambhir Than Gill? 'We Didn't Have...'
Sunil Gavaskar has insisted the captain should decide team selection, not the coach, amid the debate over Kuldeep Yadav's exclusion.
Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has said that at the end of the day, it is the captain's team and should have the final say in selecting the final XI and not even the coach should be able to influence it, pointing out how during his playing days, there was no coach and the captain's decision was the final one.
Gavaskar believes that Gill may not have had the final say in selecting the playing XI, a decision he insists should rest solely with the skipper and not be influenced by anyone else.
The continued omission of Kuldeep Yadav has triggered intense debate, after Joe Root's record-breaking hundred in the ongoing fourth Test.
'At the end of the day, it is the captain's team. You can't say that he didn't want somebody like, in Shardul Thakur's case or Kuldeep Yadav's case, that he didn't want them, maybe Shubman didn't want Shardul in the team and wanted Kuldeep," Gavaskar said while speaking on Sony Sports.
Despite boasting a strong matchup against Root, having dismissed him twice in three deliveries across two limited-overs matches seven years back at Manchester and Lord's, Kuldeep has remained sidelined throughout the series.
The general perception is that head coach Gautam Gambhir has pushed for bowlers who can contribute with the bat, after India's collapse in the Headingley Test, where they slumped from 430/3 to 471 all out in 11 overs.
'He (Gill) should have had him (Kuldeep) in the team. He is the captain. People are going to talk about him and his captaincy out there. So, it's got to be his call," Gavaskar said.
'I know that for the sake of showing everything is honky dory, these things might not come out. The fact is that the captain is responsible. He is the one who is going to be leading the XI players," Gavaskar added.
The former Indian cricketer further said that things worked differently during his time as skipper, when team selections were the captain's prerogative and the concept of a coach didn't exist, as it was all about managers and assistant managers.
'We didn't have coaches. We just had former players as managers or assistant managers of the team. They were the kind of people whom you went up to and talked to; they gave you some advice at lunchtime or the end of the day's play or on the eve of the game," Gavaskar said.
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First Published:
July 27, 2025, 12:45 IST
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