“It seemed like everyone was playing for their reputation and not for the country” – Gautam Gambhir criticises England’s batting in loss to Sri Lanka

27 Oct “It seemed like everyone was playing for their reputation and not for the country” – Gautam Gambhir criticises England’s batting in loss to Sri Lanka

Gautam Gambhir has criticized the England batters’ approach in their 2023 World Cup loss to Sri Lanka. England were bowled out for 156 after opting to bat first in Bengaluru on Thursday, October 26. Sri Lanka chased down the target with eight wickets and 24.2 overs to spare to hand the defending champions their fourth defeat in five games.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Gambhir was asked whether extremely poor batting or excellent bowling was responsible for England’s collapse, to which he responded:

“Combination of the two. England’s body language from the start was as though they were extremely disinterested. You cannot bat in just one way. There isn’t even one batter in this entire batting unit who wants to grind. There is a difference between being able to do it and wanting to do it.”

The former India opener added :

 “A lot of players say that this is their style and it’s up to you whether you select them or not. It means you are extremely selfish. Selfishness does not have any role in a team sport. It seemed like everyone was playing for their reputation and not for the country.”

Gambhir who wasn’t quite pleased with the performances criticised Ben Stokes, who was England’s top run-scorer, for trying to bat aggressively even though he was struggling to time the ball. He pointed out that the England Test skipper should have looked to bat till the 48th or 49th over to take his side to a total close to 250.