"Rahul Dravid has a better mind compared to Gautam Gambhir"- Former Pakistan legend

Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has gone down heavily on India's Head coach Gautam Gambhir. Basit Ali has also slammed India's aggressive batting approach in Tests that ultimately led to their downfall in the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand. Basit Ali was not pleased with this kind of approach in Test cricket.

The former Pakistan batter blasted India's batting coach for not being able to differentiate between Test cricket and limited-overs cricket. He also made a bold claim that Rahul Dravid has a better mind in comparison to Gautam Gambhir in terms of four-day cricket.

Indian batters tried to take an aggressive route on several occasions against New Zealand but were not successful. While this approach was successful against Bangladesh, New Zealand had better plans to counter such situations and trumped India.

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Basit Ali slams India's batting coach

While speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, Basit Ali slammed India's batting coach for not being able to provide clarity in Test cricket. He asked the team to play the match session by session instead of going hard at every ball.

"India ka batting coach hai kaun, jo yeh nahi bata pa raha ki Test cricket session to session hoti hai? Bas har over 12 run bana lo, 10 run bana lo. Yeh koi cricket hai yaar! (Who is India's batting coach, not able to advise the batsmen that you approach Tests session by session? Trying to score 10-12 runs every over is not cricket)," Basit Ali said.

India's coaching staff doesn't consist of a batting coach. Gautam Gambhir is the team's head coach while Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate are the assistant coaches of the team. Morne Morkel and T Dilip are the bowling coach and fielding coach respectively.

Only a set batsman can be successful on such tracks - Basit Ali

The former Pakistan cricketer also stated that a set batter becomes crucial on such kinds of pitches on which there is plenty of help for the spinners. He slammed the Indian batters for throwing their wicket away after being set.

"Is there no one to tell players like (Yashasvi) Jaiswal and (Shubman) Gill that when you reach 30-35, then don't get out playing loose shots, try to play out the session? Because only a set batsman can be successful (on such tracks), at that time he is your Bradman," said Basit Ali.

"But it seems they wait and think that there is still Virat Kohli to come, Rishabh Pant too, also KL Rahul and Sarfaraz (Khan); but on these tracks, the one who is set is the big player," Basit Ali added.

"Rahul Dravid has a better mind compared to Gautam Gambhir" - Basit Ali

The cricket expert even claimed that Rahul Dravid has a better mind in comparison to Gautam Gambhir when it comes to red-ball cricket. Ali reckons that preparing rank-turners helped New Zealand more as their spinners ripped apart India.

"Jaiswal scored 200 against England. Those were better pitches. (Rahul) Dravid has a better mind (as a coach) compared to Gautam Gambhir. Dravid used to advise for four-day pitches so that a Test match goes at least until the fourth day. Let it turn from the third, fourth day, fifth day," Basit Ali said.

"But you guys are asking for wickets (that turn) from the first day, where someone who is not a regular spinner will get turn even if he bowls straight," he added.

India under pressure ahead of BGT 2024-25

Gautam Gambhir was appointed India's head coach after Rahul Dravid's tenure ended at the end of the T20 World Cup 2024, where India clinched the title. But Gautam Gambhir's tenure has started on a difficult note as India has suffered two clean-sweeps in two different formats already.

After an embarrassing 0-3 defeat to New Zealand, India is under huge pressure ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. The Men in Blue have a huge task in hand to win four Tests to confirm their qualification for the WTC final.

If India is unable to win four matches, they will have to rely on the other results to go their way. The first Test of the five-match Test series will begin in Perth on November 22.