Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri not impressed with Rohit Sharma, call him "defensive" and "negative" captain

Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar has launched a scathing attack on India's current captain Rohit Sharma and called him a defensive and a negative captain during the second Test between India and New Zealand at Pune. Former India head coach too called India's tactics defensive initially in the match.

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first on a dry surface at MCA Stadium. The visitors started well and finished 92-2 in the first session. While India picked up two wickets, New Zealand batters seemed to accumulate runs quite easily.

The batters picked up singles and rotated the strike easily. The pitch too did not seem threatening at that time as Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra placed the ball into the gaps to keep the scoreboard ticking.

Watch: Washington Sundar receives standing ovation from 'proud' Gautam Gambhir after terrific 7-fer

Sunil Gavaskar slams Rohit Sharma; calls him "defensive" and "negative" captain

Sunil Gavaskar was clearly not impressed with Rohit Sharma's captaincy during this session. He spoke about the earlier times when the captains used to set attacking fields to put more pressure on the batters. During his commentary stint, he called Rohit Sharma's captaincy "defensive" and "negative".

"Back in the days If you had fielders like that long-on, long-off for the spinners before a lofted shot had been played, the captain would have been called a defensive captain a negative captain," Gavaskar said on commentary.

Sunil Gavaskar🎙️ : "Back in the days If you had fielders like that long-on, long-off for the spinners before a lofted shot had been played, the captain would have been called a defensive captain a negative captain"

Is Rohit Sharma really a negative captain? pic.twitter.com/Ekd70gxvmV

— ً (@LolzZztweetz) October 24, 2024

Sunil Gavaskar clearly wanted Rohit to bring the fielders up to mid-off and mid-on in order to apply more pressure on the batters. However, Rohit persisted with his fields and was patient enough to let things happen.

Ravi Shastri calls India's tactics "defensive"

Meanwhile, Gavaskar's former teammate Ravi Shastri too wasn't impressed with India's strategy and felt that the tactics were too defensive with the spinners in the first session on Day 1.

"India were a little too defensive with the spinners in the first session," Shastri said.

Ravi Shastri said, "India were a little too defensive with the spinners in the first session". pic.twitter.com/L9pmoXlJ8W

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) October 24, 2024

Offspinners lead the way for India

India's veteran offspinner provided India with the first breakthrough of the day with an excellent ball to dismiss Tom Latham. Ashwin picked up the next two New Zealand wickets as well. He picked up the wickets of Will Young and Devon Conway.

But it was all Washington Sundar from there on. The young offspinner from Tamil Nadu wreaked havoc to pick up the next seven wickets to end a sensational spell of spin bowling. Sundar finished with 7-59 in 23.1 overs as New Zealand were bowled out for 259 in their first innings.

In reply, India lost the captain Rohit Sharma for another low score. Rohit was bowled by an excellent delivery from Tim Southee, who squared up the Indian captain. But Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill ensured that India did not lose any more wickets and ended the day on 16-1.