he had some words of encouragement for under-fire left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav While India coach Gautam Gambhir didn’t fully divulge whether India will stick to its winning combination from Galle for the second Test against Sri Lanka. “Ultimately, we know how good a bowler Kuldeep is. And more importantly, sometimes, it’s up to the captain as well (team selection). It’s not about under-bowling. It’s about getting the result. For me, I think that is more important.
Kuldeep conceded over 100 runs in his combined 25 overs in the first Test, taking just one wicket.
“But if you don’t have five proper bowlers, then you won’t be able to rotate your senior bowlers as effectively, and they will have to come back early. “When you play five proper bowlers, someone will eventually get under-bowled. But it’s not about someone not delivering and getting under-bowled. It’s the captain’s or the management’s decision as to who will be most effective in those particular conditions. If it’s a flat wicket, ultimately, we have only one solution. We have five proper bowlers. “So, when you have five proper bowlers, you can rotate your bowlers better. We saw this in the last Test match as well. Even if Kuldeep didn’t bowl a lot, we had five proper bowlers who can get you a wicket at any stage. You want them to come in and create an impact. So, I always say that the team that has five proper bowlers, which is not a luxury, always has a better chance of winning a Test match,” he added
“If it’s a very flat wicket, the bowlers will have to work hard, maybe put in a lot of extra effort because, as I said, you’ll have to take 20 wickets.
Gambhir said having five bowlers will help the skipper rotate the attack more effectively during a match.
