'He's confident, so give him a go...': Former India head coach blasts at Shubman Gill's tactical moves during fourth Test against England

Former India head coach questioned skipper Shubman Gill's tactics to use bowlers in the fourth Test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 at Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester. Shastri believes that Gill should have shown more faith in the spinners, citing Washington Sundar's belated entry into the bowling line-up during the first session of day three's play.

Sundar, who picked up two wickets in the Lord's Test, was introduced to into the bowling attack in the 69th over, a move which left everyone baffled as India missed opportunities to get him earlier in the innings.

"I said on my first commentary stint that Gill has to trust his spinners more. Washington gave him four (second-innings) wickets in the last game. He opened things up for India in the last Test at Lord's.”

“He's confident, so give him a go. Spinners like longer spells. On a day like this you'd expect your spinner to accept responsibility, feel accountable and to go out there and do a job," said Shastri on Sky Sports' broadcast during lunch break.

Shastri also lauded England's batting strategy as batters dominated the Indian bowling lineup on Day 3 of the game

“England have had a perfect session. They went about their job in an absolute professional manner. They knew what they had to do. They had to negate Bumrah in that first half hour of play, and deny India a wicket. Then you knew with the attack India had, things would go flat because it's great batting conditions.”

“The sun is out. The pitch has flattened out as well and it's hard work now. It's a great chance for England to bat India out of this contest and bat the whole day. Bumrah certainly can't do much, especially when the tactic of the opposition is to see you through.”

“So even if they want to take chances against you, they'll say, he's going to bowl four overs or five overs max in that first spell. After that four four-over spells, let's just play him out and concentrate on the other end,” added Shastri.

Coming back to the fourth Test match, England are currently leading after a dominating batting display by Zak Crawley (84), Ben Duckett (94) and Ollie Pope (71). While writing this copy, Ben Stokes (21) and Joe Root (97) are steady after Sundar's twin blow to remove Pope and Harry Brook.