'Can Gautam Gambhir almost look at being serious about picking 20 wickets as much as he feels about depth in batting?'
After a closely fought series in England, Gautam Gambhir's Team India gave a good account of themselves. But there are still areas that need to worked on in the Test squad.
India's preference to have batting-heavy teams in all five Tests, showed their confidence, or lack thereof, in their bowlers.
With pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah getting just three Tests keeping his workload in mind, Mohammed Siraj took the onus on himself to lead India to a series-levelling win at The Oval and finishing with 23 wickets in the series.
Former India wicket-keeper and Sky Sports broadcaster Dinesh Karthik believes that the next step should for Gambhir will be to form a team that can take 20 wickets.
'Gautam Gambhir had a very ordinary series versus New Zealand at home. He continued to have a poor series against Australia. Now, he has taken control of the team I feel. This is a team handpicked by him, this is a young team. He is the driving force of this team with Shubman,' Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
'The one thing that I would think that he can do is, can he almost look at being serious about picking 20 wickets as much as he feels about depth in batting? He's a terrific white-ball coach and the results have been there for us to see. But in Test cricket, he is also learning on the job.
'He is a young coach. He's not done too many five-day games, not too much domestic cricket for him to have that volume of experience. We don't know what language he speaks in the dressing room, but they are a bunch of fired up youngsters.'
'You could almost argue they picked a team not to lose. He is now getting his way, so he will be responsible for everything that happens in the Indian team. If it does well, credit to him. If it doesn't do well, he should put his hands up and say, "we made a mistake",' DK added.
'For this England series, he should be proud of the effort the boys put in.'
'You have to look at it from Jasprit Bumrah's point of view. I think, these kind of wins, the way the series has panned out, the way the young team has fought, it will actually help him in his career. I believe Jasprit Bumrah will be very proud of this young bowling attack.
'The stat of India winning when he doesn't play is not his mistake. He is so impactful that others pale in comparison.
'I hope he will have a longer career, knowing he can pick and choose matches. Two back injuries, one nasty ACL that he had, it's not easy.'