Gautam Gambhir's Subtle Dig At Critics With "Special Mention To Harshit Rana" In Dressing Room

India head coach Gautam Gambhir gave a fiery, motivating dressing room team talk after the win over Australia in the third ODI last week in Sydney. While India lost the series 1-2 against the hosts, Gambhir praised the team for overcoming a difficult start and "ticking all boxes" in what was a consolation win for the Shubman Gill-led side. Pacer Harshit Rana silenced his critics by bowling a match-winning spell of 4-39. His sizzling spell forced Australia to pack their bags for 237. In reply, Captain Gill fell for 24, which led to Rohit and Virat Kohli joining hands at the crease to steer India to victory.

"We spoke about turning up today, wanting to do something special and we want to be respectful, we want to be friendly, we want to avoid all that. I thought we did everything, we ticked all the boxes. Specially to start with, I thought the bowlers were outstanding," Gambhir said in a Dressing Room BTS video shared by the BCCI.

The Indian dressing room was all smiles as Gambhir praised Harshit, whose place in the team had been questioned by former players before the start of the series.

"The kind of start Australia had, 63 for no loss after 10 overs, and from there to restricting them to 237 was an outstanding effort. And special mention to Harshit, that was an outstanding spell," the former India opener added.

"What I was saying is that, stay humble, stay grounded, keep working hard. It's a good start, it's not the end," he told Harshit.

Rohit returned unbeaten on 121 (125), while Virat remained not out with a sublime 74 off 81, silencing their critics, who asked for their retirement after the end of the tour.

The 23-year-old finished as the leading wicket-taker of the series, with six wickets in three innings at an average of 20.83, with best figures earned here at Sydney.

Rohit, on the other hand, was named player of the series for aggregating 202 runs in three matches.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team Harshit Rana Gautam Gambhir Australia vs India 2025 Cricket