Gautam Gambhir is facing scrutiny even before completing a year as India’s head coach, but it was expected after the team, especially the Indian batters, repeated mistakes in Australia and lost the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 1-3.
India let a 1-0 advantage slip and lost three of the next four Tests to lose the BGT for the first time in 10 years.
Questions have been raised about the continuous failure of some of the big names like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Rohit even had to ‘step aside’ for the last Test of the series in Sydney because of his poor form with the bat. Even as skipper Rohit has gone through a torrid time in his last two Test series, losing five of the six matches.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!
Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali believes Gambhir should follow the formula of current Pakistan coach Aaqib Javed by putting an end to the superstar culture.
“It’s the best time for Gautam Gambhir to adopt Aaqib Javed’s philosophy: ‘cricket ko izzat do; jo cricket ko izzat nahi dega, ta-ta bye bye (give respect to cricket; the ones who don’t, they will be out of the team),” said Basit on his YouTube channel.
“That should be the message.”
Aaqib, who is a member of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s selection panel, was recently appointed as the team’s head coach as well.
Before Aaqib, South Africa’s Gary Kirsten and Australia’s Jason Gillespie were the head coaches for Pakistan’s white-ball and red-ball teams, respectively. But Pakistan’s decline, which included the team’s poor run in T20 and ODI World Cups and an embarrassing Test series loss at home against Bangladesh, led to the ouster of both the foreign coaches.
“Aaqib ended the superstar culture in the Pakistan team. Those who thought ‘I am important’, he told them ‘it’s your false notion’. He said every player is equal.”
In fact, Gambhir had touched upon similar subject during his post-match press conference in Sydney, saying that it’s his responsibility to treat every player equally — whether it’s a debutant or someone who has played 100 Tests.
“To keep the dressing room happy, I have to be absolutely honest, equal and fair to everyone,” Gambhir had said. “I know we haven’t got the result, and it is frustrating, it is challenging; but whatever we can do in the best interest of Indian cricket, that will continue to happen in that dressing room.”
Without taking any names, Gambhir said every player knows from within at what stage of his career he is.
“Every individual knows at what stage his game and hunger are. That is the most important thing for any sport, any profession — how hungry you are, how passionate you are and is the team progressing or not with your contribution? Because ultimately it’s not my team or your team, it’s the country’s team,” India’s head coach added.
“As I have said before, there are honest players in our dressing room who know how hungry they are and if the Indian team can move forward with their contribution. But as far as I am concerned, my biggest responsibility is that I have to be fair to everyone in that room, not one or two individuals”.
