The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been looking to take some hard decisions against the Gautam Gambhir-led coaching staff after the flop batting department of the blue brigade in the five-match Test series of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 in Australia.
India started the series on a high with the help of a 295-run victory during the series opener at the Optus Stadium in Perth, under the captaincy of the premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, in the absence of their regular captain Rohit Sharma, who was on paternity leave during that contest for the birth of his second child.
In the first innings at Perth, the Indian side was bundled out for just 150 runs on the board in less than 50 overs, with the best score of 41 coming from the debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy, while Rishabh Pant also drilled a fine knock of 37 runs.
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The only prime batting from the blue brigade in the entire trip came during the second innings of the Test when they smashed 487/6 to declare the innings, thanks to the 161-run knock from opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and unbeaten 100-run knock of Virat Kohli.
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However, India’s same struggle with the bat continued in the second innings as they were bashed out for just 180 in the first innings in 44.1 overs as Nitish again showed his T20 power for a cracking knock of 42 runs in 54 deliveries with the help of three boundaries and as many sixes at a strike rate of around 80.
The expectation was to do well in the second innings, but the ball moved a lot under the lights with the pink ball at the Adelaide Oval as they were bowled out for just 175 runs on the board in 36.5 overs. Reddy again drilled a knock of 42 runs in 47 balls, shouldering on six boundaries and one six, while the next best score in the scorecard was 28 from Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant.
All of these have resulted in additional pressure on their bowler, especially the pacers like Jasprit Bumrah or Mohammad Siraj, who, after bowling their heat out to the Australian batters, would hope to take a break and put their feet up. But a batting failure would mean that they would hardly get any time to recover in between innings.
India is now likely to discuss with the team management and feels the requirement of strengthening their coaching staff. The reports of Cricbuzz have claimed that some of the names, including the former domestic cricket heavyweights, are now being considered to be the batting coach of the national side. However, no final decision has been made yet.
The current coaching department of India consists of their head coach, Gautam Gambhir, who asked to hire the former lanky South African pacer Morne Morkel as their bowling coach, the two assistant coaches, Ryan Ten Doeschate and Abhishek Nayar, while T Dilip is their fielding coach.
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The two-star performers of their batting department, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, have struggled to find the right rhythm and form in the series, which has been one of the results for the two-time runners-up of WTC failing to make their final consecutive final of the World Test Championship (WTC) in 2023-25 and losing the power from the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) for the very first time since 2014-15.
They will aim to do well in their next Test series in England in June 2025.