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After India’s poor outings for three Tests in a row in Australia, the team’s head coach Gautam Gambhir is facing the heat as questions are raised about the role being played by him and his coaching staff while the team has been unable to address its problems.
India let a 1-0 advantage slip after winning the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) opener in Perth and lost in Adelaide by 10 wickets, barely managed a draw in Brisbane and went down by 184 runs on the final day in Melbourne.
Heading into the fifth and final Test in Sydney starting on Friday, the hosts lead 2-1 and are the favourites to win the BGT — ending their 10-year wait.
In a scathing criticism of India’s head coach, former Pakistan batter Basit Ali said Gambhir doesn’t know the art of coaching.
“Gautam Gambhir ko tactics nahi aati, coaching ki (Gambhir doesn’t know coaching tactics),” said Basit on his YouTube channel.
“No doubt he guided Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL title (in 2024), but T20s don’t need much coaching. In Test matches, even the coach is tested — what is the coach understanding and planning while sitting on the sidelines?”
At the press conference in Sydney on Thursday, Gambhir put up a brave face to some pointed questions thrown at him and answered most of those, including ones on the dressing room atmosphere.
“The only conversation we have in the team is how to win the next Test match, as we all know how important this Test is,” the coach said.
Basit, however, felt Gambhir missed a chance at playing mind games with Australia and launch an offensive a day before the match.
“…the press conference he has held, saying that the dressing room talks should not come out and honesty is the best (policy), then he himself should show those things,” said Basit.
He added that Gambhir should have announced the playing eleven and cleared the air on who is going to captain, which, Basit felt, would have showed Australia that the visitors have sorted themselves out and are clear about what they want to do.
“He should have straight away announced the playing eleven for the match. He told about Akash Deep missing with a back issue. Then why not announce the team and counter-attack!”
After the press conference, social media went berserk when a video of Gambhir talking to Jasprit Bumrah went viral, raising speculations if Rohit will hand over captaincy to Bumrah for the Sydney Test or maybe Rohit won’t be even in the playing eleven because of his poor run with the bat and as a leader since the home series against New Zealand.
“Today a video came out where Gambhir and Bumrah are alone talking, while the rest of the team is warming up. Is that a good sign?” asked the ex-Pakistan batter. “Even if they are not talking cricket, every player must be wondering (what are they talking about). If he had to talk, then he should have done it inside the dressing room.
“Who is the designated captain, Rohit Sharma, right? So isn’t Gambhir at fault here? It’s a big mistake.”
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