Not Virat Kohli Or Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir's Treatment Of These 2 Stars Questioned: "Could've Been Better"
Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer raised question marks over the treatment of certain players from the Gautam Gambhir-led Indian team management.
- India coach Gautam Gambhir received question marks over his treatment of Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammed Shami
- "Some individuals could have gotten better treatment," Jaffer said
- "Surya was axed after winning the (T20) World Cup. There are other players as well, like Shami," he added
Gautam Gambhir has endured extreme highs and lows during his tenure as India's head coach. On one hand, he has guided the team to two ICC titles, winning the Champions Trophy 2025 and the T20 World Cup 2026. On the other hand, he has suffered ignominious Test series defeats at home to New Zealand and South Africa. Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer pointed out that the biggest stains on Gambhir's coaching career are the Test series defeats and the way some players were treated.
Jaffer said that when it comes to white-ball cricket, the way stalwarts like Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammed Shami were axed could have been handled better.
"Some individuals could have gotten better treatment, like Surya (Suryakumar Yadav), who was axed after winning the (T20) World Cup. There are other players as well, like Shami. Some things could have been better. But otherwise, I don't think in white-ball cricket any blame can be put on him," Jaffer said, speaking on his YouTube channel, as quoted by Times Now.
He then spoke further on the devastating nature of the series defeats to New Zealand and South Africa at home.
"The mark of those two whitewash series will always be on him, without a doubt. Not just on his CV, but also on the captain and other players. Coming to India and beating them was a final frontier that not many teams had achieved. It was very bad for us to suddenly lose like that. He will definitely feel that had we won those series, we would be at the top of the WTC table. There is a lot of scope for improvement in Test cricket for him. Not just for him, but for the players also," Jaffer explained.
India's 0-3 Test series defeat to New Zealand in October and November 2024 ended a run of 12 years without a home series loss for the team.
On the other hand, the 0-2 Test series defeat to South Africa hampered India's progress in their goal of reaching the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 final.
India Cricket Team
Gautam Gambhir
Virat Kohli
Rohit Sharma
Mohammad Shami