India’s head coach, Gautam Gambhir, has refused to blame the hitters for India’s dismal performance against New Zealand in the ongoing Test series at home. New Zealand has established a decisive 2-0 lead in the three-match series, their first series win in India, following convincing victories in Bengaluru and Pune.
In Bengaluru, the foreigners impressed their hosts with seam and swing-friendly conditions. India was supposed to recover in Pune, where the surface was spin-friendly, but New Zealand surprised Rohit Sharma’s team by defeating them in conditions where they were anticipated to struggle.
“Everyone has the responsibility. I cannot say just the batters have let us down. I am not going to sugarcoat that it is hurting. “It should hurt and that will make us better. What is wrong in being in this position? I am sure this will push the youngsters to be better cricketers. If we have results like Kanpur, might as well have results like this and keep moving forward,” Gautam Gambhir told reporters ahead of the third Test in Mumbai.
This was Gambhir’s second Test series in charge since taking over as head coach, and the setback is ‘hurting’ the two-time World Cup winner.
“Test cricket should be played like Test cricket”- Gautam Gambhir disappointed with batters’ approach
One of the standout aspects of India’s dismal performance was their hitters’ failure to drop anchor and construct innings. However, Gambhir believes that it is more important how a team approaches a session.
“Test cricket should be played like Test cricket. If we have to get 400 runs inside a day’s play we should be able to get it. For me it is about playing the sessions as well. If we play 4.5 sessions we will have a lot of runs on board,” he said.
Gambhir refused to comment on the Wankhede pitch with reports claiming that they have asked for a rank-turner.
“It is just a good wicket. Very difficult for anyone to judge before both teams have batted on it,” he said.
Gautam Gambhir took over as head coach of Team India during the country’s three T20I and three ODI tours of Sri Lanka. India whitewashed Sri Lanka in the T20Is but lost the ODI series 0-3 to the hosts. It was a surprising setback for India, who had not lost to Sri Lanka in an ODI series in 27 years.
Now, the Men in Blue have suffered a rare Test series defeat at home to the Kiwis. India had not lost a Test series at home in the previous 12 years, but the trend was finally broken here.
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