India’s Ravindra Jadeja, left, share a light moment with India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir, centre, and India’s Virat Kohli during a training session ahead of their second test cricket match against New Zealand at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, in Pune, India, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Dinesh Karthik has defended Team India coach Gautam Gambhir amid mounting pressure following consecutive Test series losses to New Zealand and Australia.
“I think, when it comes to Gautam Gambhir, you got to cut him some slack a little bit because I think he has come in at a very tough time. Post a successful regime of Rahul Dravid, it’s never easy to fill those shoes,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.
Karthik lauded Gambhir for his role in making India’s T20 side stronger but admitted Test cricket has been hard for the coach.
“He has found success, an immense success in T20 cricket, where he’s had a lot of young boys. He’s been able to have, I would dare say, a massive influence over them. But in Test cricket, he has had the going very hard.
“Yes, the Bangladesh series was a success and I think post that, things have just gone downhill for him,” he said.
Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir (right) with assistant coach Abhishek Nayar. (BCCI | X)
Karthik also pointed out Gambhir’s last press conference where he has that the seniors like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli must take decisions on their future by putting team’s interest above anything.
“He wants them to take the decision as to what they feel is best,” he said.
Karthik also raised many questions including whether the Gambhir is happy with the current set of players in the Test set-up.
“I think the biggest decision for him to make is, is he very, very happy with his current set of players? Is he able to influence them over decision-making? Are they aligned with his thought process? What is his ideology of how the Test team should look? And are these players fitting in? If that is the case, great. If not, then you have to obviously figure out what is the best way moving forward,” he said.
Indian Captain Rohit Sharma with coach Gautam Gambhir and Rishabh Pant inspects the pitch during a training session ahead of the first cricket test match between India and New Zealand at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Karnataka, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (PTI Photo)
“Test cricket has been hard for Gautam Gambhir, the coach.
“Now when it comes to ODI, they haven’t played too much. But also remember, they lost the series against Sri Lanka. So, it hasn’t been easy in Test and very little sample size for ODIs. But yes, I think he has walked into big shoes. The pressure is mounting,” he said.
Karthik admitted as a coach Gambhir has done reasonably well and the T20 team is a fine example.
“If you’re taking the success of the T20 team doing well, then you have to find a way to take the losses that Test team has encountered.
“But you can’t just purely completely fault Gautam Gambhir. I think all he can do is give them freedom, give them the security that they want in the dressing room and try and keep a very nice, safe heaven sort of place in the dressing room.
“And that’s about it. After that, when the player walks out, he’s there in the middle, he’s got to find a way to counter his demons and do whatever the opposition questions are to answer it nicely.
“But for the moment, the going has not been that easy in the last couple of months for Gautam Gambhir.”
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