It wasn’t a smooth start in the red-ball coaching for the new head coach of India, Gautam Gambhir, who, after a 2-0 series victory at home against Bangladesh went on to get whitewashed against New Zealand with a 0-3 margin, was the first ever in the history of Indian cricket in the longest format of the game. This was also the Blue Brigade’s first home red-ball series defeat since 2012/13 against England.
The beginning of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 was a little joyous for Gautam Gambhir as the touring side, under the leadership of the premier Indian pace bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, grabbed a fine victory of 295 runs in the series opener at the Optus Stadium in Perth. But things went downhill again as they lost three of the last four encounters, with the third Gabba Test ending as a draw due to persistent rain.
Questions were raised over a few selections of the national side. Rohit Sharma kept on failing with 31 runs in five innings at an average of 6.20 with the best score of ten, while Virat Kohli, apart from the unbeaten knock of 100 runs in the second innings of Perth, gathered only 90 runs in eight innings at an average of around 12.
Nitish Rana called Gautam Gambhir ‘one of the most selfless players’
The former Bengal captain and Indian batter, Manoj Tiwary, lambasted Gautam Gambhir for the national side’s poor performance. They are set to host England in eight white-ball games, divided into five T20Is and three ODIs, before the start of the Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai. That will be followed by the Indian Premier League (IPL), after which they will play five away Tests against the Ben Stokes-led side.
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In a recent interaction with News18 Bangla, Tiwary took a dig at both Morne Morkel, India’s bowling coach who was with the former Indian opener in the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) coaching staff, and the batting coach of the side, Abhishek Nayar.
“What is the use of a bowling coach? Whatever the coach says, he will agree. Morne Morkel came from Lucknow Super Giants. Abhishek Nayar was at Kolkata Knight Riders with Gambhir, and the Indian head coach has a comfort zone with him.” The former Bengal batter and their captain addressed.
“Gautam Gambhir is a hypocrite. He doesn’t do what he says. The captain is from Mumbai, and Abhishek Nayar is from Mumbai. Rohit has been pushed to the forefront by them to deal with all the issues.” The veteran admitted.
A few reports claimed that there must have been some broken relationship between the head coach and captain of the side, which resulted in the latter deciding to opt-out’ of the series decider at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Tiwary put more power in the words.
“How will they work together? Rohit is a World Cup-winning captain While, Gambhir led KKR to IPL titles both as a captain and mentor. Gambhir didn’t guide KKR to the title single-handedly, as we all performed as a unit. Jacques Kallis, Sunil Narine, and I, all contributed to the cause. But who took the credit?” The former Indian batter looked back at the 2012 IPL winning year for the Knights.
Another KKR batter, Nitish Rana, who enjoyed the IPL 2024 title under mentor Gautam Gambhir, has stood against these claims and felt that the performance never seeks any PR as the trophies are enough to speak for themselves.
“Criticism should be based on facts, not personal insecurities. Gauti Bhaiyya is one of the most selfless players I’ve ever met. He shoulders responsibility in times of distress like no other. Performance doesn’t need any PR. The trophies speak for themselves.” Nitish Rana wrote on his ‘X’ handle (formerly known as Twitter).