• Source:JND
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IND vs ENG 4th Test: Ex-India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has reckoned that ultimately it's the captain's side and he should be the one choosing the final playing XI and not the coach, and emphasised that in his playing days, they didn't have any coach and whatever decision the skipper made was considered final. Gavaskar opined that Gill didn't have the final say in choosing India's playing XI, and this is a decision that should be made by the captain and shouldn't be influenced by anyone.

With Kuldeep Yadav's continuous dropping it led to questions being raised post Joe Root's record-breaking century during the match.

“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," was quoted as saying to Sony Sports.

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Kuldeep has a brilliant record against Root as he has taken his wicket twice of the three balls that he has bowled to him during a white-ball series at Old Trafford and Lord's, and despite that, he has been seen warming the bench.

The notion is that Gautam Gambhir has backed bowlers who can bat as well, post the side's batting collapse during the series opener in Leeds, as they went from 430/3 to 471 all out.

“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. 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," he said.

The ex-India cricketer also revealed that in his playing days, things were different as the captain used to select the playing XI, and that they didn't have any coach and were handled by 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," he concluded.