It has been almost three months since Gautam Gambhir became the coach of the Indian team. He was made the coach of the Indian team with much fanfare. But so far the result has not come as desired by the Indian team. Earlier, the team lost the ODI series against Sri Lanka. And now there is a whitewash in the Test series against New Zealand.
BCCI gave Gautam Gambhir a lot of freedom in the matter of team selection. He was also included in the selection committee meeting for the Australia tour. But after Team India's poor performance against New Zealand, things don't seem to be going in their favour. According to media reports, his role in future team selection related issues may be reduced if the team's performance does not improve significantly during the Australia tour.
After Gautam Gambhir took over, the Indian team toured Sri Lanka. Where the team lost an ODI series against Sri Lanka for the first time in 27 years. And this was followed by New Zealand beating Team India 3-0 at home on 3 November. An Indian team had never faced such bad luck at its home ground in a series of three or more matches.
India was whitewashed at home in Tests after 24 years.
Certain tactical moves during the match raised questions A coach's role with the team is to strategize. Despite knowing the weakness of Indian batsmen against spin bowling, questions are being raised about the choice of turning pitch in Mumbai. Gambhir wants the same attitude from the players in every situation, which is difficult to understand even for those closely associated with Indian cricket. Siraj was sent as the night watchman on the evening of the second day of the third Test against New Zealand in Mumbai. And Sarfaraz was dropped at number eight in the first innings. These are some of the strategic moves that are going to be questioned.
All rules aside for Gambhir gave authority A source close to BCCI said that Gautam Gambhir has been given all the powers. His former coaches Rahul Dravid and Ravi Shastri did not have as much. According to the BCCI rule book, the head coach is not part of the selection committee meeting. But keeping in mind the importance of the Australia tour, Gambhir was allowed to participate in the tour by sidelining the rules.
BCCI selected the coaching staff according to Gambhir.
The team has two players who have been included in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad at the behest of Gambhir. Fast bowler Harshit Rana and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy. However, Harshit did not get a chance to make his debut during the home series against Sri Lanka or Bangladesh. There were reports that he was released before the last match. Because his health was bad. But within a week he started bowling in the nets in Bengaluru. And then performed brilliantly in the Ranji Trophy match against Assam.
Nitish could not play bouncer, selected Harshit as net bowler Some experts felt that instead of playing in the Ranji Trophy, Harshit should have been sent to Australia with the India-A team. So that they get a chance to practice on the bouncy pitch there before the start of the series. But he was included as a net bowler in the recently concluded Test series. Two of the three pitches were rank turners.
Experts opined that Harshit needed to be prepared by sending India-A on a tour to Australia.
As for Nitish Reddy, in the match against Australia-A he faced problems in playing the short ball and his bowling was also not effective. After Reddy's performance in T20 matches, Gambhir was confident that he could be the ideal replacement for Hardik Pandya as a fast bowling all-rounder.
The board will keep a watchful eye The Australia series will be no less than a litmus test for Gambhir. He may have to show a mirror to many senior players during this series. Because the board will keep a close eye on them.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
