We need red-ball specialists for Test cricket: Gautam Gambhir

India coach Gautam Gambhir has called for red-ball specialists for Test cricket in future saying too much of T20 cricket is having a negative impact on players’ ability to defend the ball.

“Going forward we will have to identify players who are solid red-ball cricketers because ultimately to get the results you will have to work very hard for three or four days or five days. So sometimes as I have said, it is important to bat sessions. If we can bat sessions, we have the bowling to take 20 wickets… identifying the right red-ball batters is very, very important,” said Gambhir during a press conference ahead of the third and final Test against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

“The foundation of your batting has to be good defence and then you start taking up from there. It (lack in defence) has probably got to do with playing on flat wickets in T20 cricket.

“But again we need to keep working on our defence, on our game, need to keep tightening our game because Test cricket is Test cricket. Going forward you’ll see the same issues with other teams. Because the more the teams play T20 cricket, the less they will defend.”

India lost the first two Tests and their batting was exposed. The Indians faltered against the Kiwis pace bowling in the first Test and their spin bowling in the second Test.

As a result the team management has summoned a number of bowlers to bowl at the batsmen in the nets. There has been criticism of the batsmen facing a lot of throwdowns. Former India player Irfan Pathan had criticised the Indian batsmen for paying too much attention to throwdowns.

Former India spinner Venkatapathy Raju in a recent interview had said, “Muscle memory plays a key role, and it is into hitting [nowadays]. You are practicing lofted shots. When you see that length, you go and hit the ball. In T20, you can’t defend.”

Gambhir said that he wanted the batsmen to bat for as long as possible.

“The more [net bowlers] the merrier. Wanted the batsmen to bat a lot and there was quality as well. If they can bat more then there is better preparation as well. When we go to Australia we never get those quality bowlers, when we are playing at home, we always have that luxury of getting quality bowlers to bat long. We wanted to prepare as well as we can and the preparation yesterday and today has been fantastic.

“We need to keep defending better especially on a turning track because if you have confidence in your defence, then a lot of things can be sorted. That is something we need to keep better on and keep working on.”

Gambhir also said that he is not thinking of IPL retention. 

"It doesn’t bother me one bit. It’s about Indian cricket tomorrow. It’s about the Test match that’s coming up tomorrow. IPL has nothing to do with me," said Gambhir, who was the mentor of the Kolkata Knight Riders team in last year's IPL. The IPL retention list is set to be released late on Thursday.  

Tags : Gautam Gambhir, India, New Zealand, Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, 3rd Test, Cricket, IPL retention