Gautam Gambhir Hits Out At Delhi Coach And Selectors

Mar 10, 2017 at 3:49 PM

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Gautam Gambhir Hits Out At Delhi Coach And Selectors
On Tuesday, the Indian cricketing fraternity was rocked by the news of Gautam Gambhir venting out his anger on Delhi coach KP Bhaskar after the state’s poor show in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Reports suggested the southpaw even abused the coach.
Gambhir, who has a history of poor on and off field behaviour, was again under the scanner and it looked like the state association might call him for an explanation for his act. But soon after returning to Delhi from Bhubaneswar after the completion of the group stage of Vijay Hazare Trophy, Gambhir issued an explanation for his act and alleged the coach and selectors are playing with the career of youngsters.

“If protecting a youngster is a crime, I am guilty. If making 20-22-year-olds feel secure in an insecure environment is a crime, then I am guilty. But I could not have let this man (Bhaskar) play with careers of young players like Unmukt Chand and Nitish Rana,” Gambhir told PTI.

 

“Dressing room is a private environment. It’s like a bedroom. There may be many discussions but that’s not supposed to be discussed with media. I never spoke what all he (Bhaskar) said after we lost a T20 match in Himachal as to what laurels he had brought to Delhi cricket and where these youngsters are taking it to? Is it how you deal with youngsters? “I know how to deal with people. A lot of things have been said about him, about how I abused this man or that man. A lot of things are blown out of proportion, ” He added.

The Delhi selectors made surprising decisions as first they dropped Gautam Gambhir as the skipper of the side, handing the duties to young Rishabh Pant – who made his international debut in the third and final T20I against England at Bengaluru earlier this month. Further, they axed Unmukt Cand for the first three games of the season, only to bring him back at the cost of Nitish Rana.

“Look at somebody like Unmukt Chand. He was an India A captain recently, captained Delhi when I wasn’t a part of the team. Suddenly you don’t even pick him for Delhi’s one day side. Look where you have got his career to. Look at Nitish Rana, he played Duleep Trophy, he has played IPL for Mumbai Indians and suddenly three bad one-day games, you send him back,” Gambhir said.

 

“For last three years, I have been trying to give security to these young players who are all 23 or 24. There has been a culture in Delhi cricket about making players insecure. I have myself faced that when I was a youngster. When I got into the Ranji Trophy team, I was made to feel insecure. Then only I had decided if I ever take charge I will never make young boys feel insecure.

“I backed certain boys for 2-3 years as these were the best boys to back. It is irrelevant from which club they come and we need to get this culture out of the way,” said Gambhir.

From the past four years, Gambhir has made regular appearances for Delhi in each and every competition. He aims to build a team of his own, giving regular chances to youngsters. It has been learnt that his futuristic approach forced Rajat Bhatia to move away from Delhi camp in the last season, when he was not included in Ranji Trophy squad on the advice of Gambhir.
It has also been said Gambhir has a habit of importing talent from other states whether it is Navdeep Saini, Mohit Ahlawat or Kulwant Khejroliya.
Protecting himself, Gambhir said his aim to build a strong team for the future.

“Mr Chauhan had a problem as I selected Navdeep Saini. Within two years this boy is playing for India A. The national selectors must have seen something in him. Now Bhaskar wanted to drop him from Delhi Mushtaq Ali T20 side branding him a ‘red ball bowler’. I told him don’t do this as this boy may get an IPL contract. Had he not played in Dharamsala, may be Daredevils would not have picked him.”

Concluding the talk, Gambhir did not even spare the selectors as he said they’ve never done their job with dedication. He alleged none of the selectors have ever visited practice camps or watched any game.

“Who are selectors? None of the selectors watched a single game. They don’t come to the nets. They only come to the nets just one day before the meeting. One selector is busy appearing on channels and other busy partying. What is there to talk to them. Had they been this loyal to Delhi cricket, they should have watched games and not just come to drop players.”

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