India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir called for patience after the team’s defeat to Australia in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Gambhir spoke about honesty in the dressing room and feels that this will take the Indian team forward.
Gautam Gambhir is not worried about the transition phase as he is confident about the depth of Indian cricket. He asked the younger players to get enough space to perform which will enable them to give their best for the country.
The Indian team is currently going through a transition phase where the no. retirements will be on the horizon in the next few years. Recently Ravichandran Ashwin retired from international cricket while other seniors like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are also not in great form.
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“Transition is happening not only for us, but also for the country” – Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir spoke to reporters ahead of the fifth Test between Australia and India in Sydney. Speaking about the future, Gambhir called for patience in this difficult phase and believes that the media also has a role to play in this phase.
“Whatever talent there is in Indian cricket, we will always be in safe hands. But there will be times when we don’t get results, we will have to be patient,” Gambhir told a press conference.
“More than criticizing young players, we will have to give them time to develop, and that is not only the role of the support staff, but also you people (media) – probably not to criticize them, but to help them. So the transition is not only happening for us, but and for the country and we are in it together,” he added.
And no. player is playing his first series in Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Akash Deep are on their first tour of Australia and are also showing promise.
Gautam Gambhir calls for honesty in Indian cricket
Gautam Gambhir is not worried about India’s performance and believes that the future is in safe hands given the depth of Indian cricket. He called for an improvement in performance and believes that everyone has a role to play in this.
“Indian cricket will always be in safe hands as long as there are honest people sitting in that room and honesty is the most important thing for any transition,” said the former India opener.
“It’s not about phasing out older players and bringing in youngsters. Ultimately, the only thing that can keep you in the dressing room is performance, and that starts with all of us,” he noted.
The reason behind India’s poor performance
According to Gautam Gambhir, one of the main reasons for India’s poor performance is the transition in both the batting and bowling departments. He praised batsmen like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Kumar Reddy for their performances in their first tour of Australia.
“I always felt that when transitions happened in the past, there was one department that took the team forward. But right now, the transition will happen in both departments (bowling and batting) and you can already see that,” Gambhir explained.
“You can see some younger fast bowlers coming through; there are younger batsmen who are on their first tour of Australia and have been extremely good,” he said.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Kumar Reddy are currently the top two run scorers for India in the series. Both were impressive and showed promise for the future. Jaiswal scored 359 runs at an average of 51.28 while Reddy scored 294 runs at an average of 49.
Two of India’s senior batsmen, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, have struggled for runs throughout the series, a major cause of concern for the team management. Australia currently leads the series 2-1 and the final Test of the series will be played in Sydney on January 3.
