"It seemed like everyone was playing for their reputation and not for the country" - Gautam Gambhir criticizes 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 criticized 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.

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"After the first 7 overs, it seemed like England would score 350 or 400" - Gautam Gambhir

Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan added 45 runs in 6.3 overs for the first wicket. [P/C: AP]

Gautam Gambhir highlighted that the England batters virtually threw away their wickets once Joe Root was dismissed. He said:

"After the first 7 overs, it seemed like England would score 350 or 400. After that, no one tried to grind or spend time in the middle. Extremely ordinary shots after Joe Root got out. There wasn't even one player who got out because of the wicket."

On the flip side, the cricketer-turned-commentator lauded Sri Lanka for fielding a three-pronged seam attack. He reasoned:

"The good thing from Sri Lanka's point of view was that they played an excellent bowling attack. When you play three frontline fast bowlers, the captain always has the option of bowling a good bowler from one end."

Although Dilshan Madushanka didn't pick up a wicket, Lahiru Kumara (3/35) and Kasun Rajitha (2/36) struck vital blows for the Lankan Lions. Angelo Mathews also chipped in with two wickets with his medium-pace bowling apart from inflicting Joe Root's run-out.