On Head Coach Gautam Gambhir's Criticism, India Star's Blunt Reply

It has been a roller coaster ride so far for Gautam Gambhir as the head coach of the Indian cricket team, especially in the Test format. In the first Test series that Gambhir coached India, the side clean swept Bangladesh 2-0. A forgettable performance followed after that as India were whitewashed by New Zealand 3-0 on their own home soil. It also happened to be India's first-ever Test series loss in 12 years. The side then lost to Australia on latter's home ground by a 1-3 margin and thus ended up missing out on a World Test Championship final spot for the first time.

A high of Gambhir's Test coaching came in England in the recently-concluded series in which India pulled off a sensational 2-2 draw despite going down twice in the series.

During all the poor performaces of the team, Gambhir has been criticised heavily. Now, India all-rounder Shardul Thakur has opened up on the issue, stating that how the team takes the man.

"Yes, we have always seen him as a player who is willing to fight for the team, and even during the huddles, he transferred that energy into us, the one that he brought into the field during his playing days. He is an achiever who has won trophies for the nation and the state. And he brings all those experiences and motivations into the team. Criticism will come and go, but as a team, winning matters, and I believe we are heading in the right direction when it comes to that," Shardul told RevSportz.

The draw in England became all more special as India were playing their first series in the format after the retirement of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. To make things challenging, even ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah was not available for all the five matches in the series.

"When your backs are against the wall, there is no going back and that was the situation, having two of the most senior pro players (Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma) retiring from the game, and not having Mohammed Shami in the squad. The bit of experience this team had was in form of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. The batting unit was fairly inexperienced, except for KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant. This team had no other option than to rise and put up a fight, because at the end of the day, you are representing India," said Shardul.

"Even our team huddles had Gauti Bhai (Gautam Gambhir) saying: 'You are lucky to be representing your country.' Maybe young, but we are here because of our talent, and as our coach said: 'If you have the belief, then there is no opponent that you cannot beat. If it's your day, you can take any side down, based on how badly you want it.' And most importantly, when youngsters are in the team, they would do anything to showcase their talent in front of the world. I guess that's what lifted the morale of the team and kept our team going," he added.

Topics mentioned in this article

Cricket India Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team England Cricket Team New Zealand Cricket Team Gautam Gambhir Shardul Thakur