Former England spinner Monty Panesar has pointed out important concerns regarding Gautam Gambhir’s tenure as India head coach, citing the team’s issues, with bowling as the primary reason behind the increasing doubt on his role. India will be hoping to level the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in the second Test against England at the Edgbaston Stadium starting July 2. All eyes will be on the Shubman Gill-led side after they lost the first Test despite holding much of the advantage after the first innings. In the five-wicket loss, India became the first team to lose a Test despite having five batters score hundreds.

In an exclusive conversation with IANS, Panesar spoke on the importance of picking a bowling lineup that can deliver in England. “The problem is that if Gautam has the ability to make his team into a good batting unit, he then needs to show the ability can make the team into a good bowling unit. Fans are going to troll. They’re going to come after Gautam Gambhir. When India were 400 plus, India should have won the Test match. But the question is, ‘Is Gautam Gambhir a good coach to make the bowling good? Does he have the ability? ‘ He needs to show that. “He needs to now think, right, I know how to get the batting to fire, but as a coach, can I pick the team to take 20 wickets? That’s his biggest challenge right now in England, and if he is not able to demonstrate that, then I think the BCCI will slowly, Test by Test match, assess him, and they’ll just think, you know, what should we do after the end of the series? His biggest challenge is going to be to pick the right attack for every venue to take 20 wickets,” Panesar told IANS.