‘You are spoiling young players’ – Mohammad Kaif slams Gautam Gambhir and Co. ahead of 1st T20I vs West Indies

India completed a 2-1 victory in the three-match ODI series against West Indies, with matches played on September 27, September 30 and October 3, 2026. The series provided opportunities for several players to stake their claim in the Indian squad, but the handling of some debutants has drawn scrutiny from former players and analysts.

Mohammad Kaif, a former India batter, has raised concerns about how the team management is treating young cricketers who are given limited opportunities. Kaif’s criticism centres on the selection decisions made by head coach Gautam Gambhir and the selection committee during the West Indies ODI series.

“You are bringing new guys but not backing them. If you have played someone, give more chances. Why did they drop Nabi? Kamboj also got hit anyway. You are spoiling young players by doing this,” Kaif said in a video on his YouTube channel.

“I don’t know when Nabi will play white-ball next. Maybe he won’t play at all. This is wrong. You do not have backups. If this planning continues, it is going to hurt,” he added.

Nabi’s debut and early exit from the squad

Auqib Nabi made his ODI debut for India in the second match at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on September 30, 2026, replacing all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy in the playing eleven. In that match, Nabi conceded 84 runs off 8.5 overs without taking a wicket. He was dropped for the third ODI, which was played on October 3, 2026.

Gambhir explained his decision to rest Nabi in the final match by stating that a dead rubber does not provide the same pressure as a match where a series is on the line. The head coach felt that playing Nabi in a match without stakes would not give the debutant the experience needed to develop under competitive conditions.

Kaif also questioned the broader approach to team selection and the lack of consistency in backing young players. He highlighted that the series did not yield the expected improvements in areas where India needed to strengthen, with established batters like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and KL Rahul scoring runs as expected. Kaif empathised with young captain Gill and said that the Indian team should strengthen their bowling department ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup.

“He has less experience and is a work in progress. He is still learning as a captain and getting into that role. The biggest thing hurting him is that he is a young captain with a young bowling team. There is less time for the World Cup and it is seen that he is panicking. You played Nabi in one game and dropped him. You gave Reddy the new ball in one game and then changed that. Then you played Kamboj. They lost because they also had the penalty and had to bring fielders in. Because he was clueless when so many runs were being scored and was taking time,” Kaif said.

“I think the takeaways from this series were not hundreds from Kohli, Rohit, Gill and KL. They have been doing this. We did not add on anything. When you play a series, you try to add on and improve on your weakness. Kuldeep picked wickets but he was not playing enough before anyway. Nothing was added on from this series. In fact, it has only hurt. The confidence has gone down. Gill, as a captain, may be doubting himself. It’s like the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. There was no positive added,” he added.

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Kaif also lambasted the selection committee for not taking the right decisions, one of them being the continuous snubbing of a veteran fast bowler like Mohammed Shami.

“I feel two-three things have been done wrong. If you look at the selection committee, there are many bowlers there. They have a huge role to play. Even they are not able to connect to Shami. I am sure they also would have gone through such phases, be it fitness, rhythm. Ajit Agarkar himself made a comeback so many times. This is the norm of a career,” he explained.