Under-fire Gambhir defends pitch, wants mental toughness from batters

The heat is certainly on Gautam Gambhir, the Indian head coach, as his team succumbed to their fourth loss in six Tests at home under his regime since last year. Ever since he took charge in July 2024, the Men in Blue have maintained a high success rate in white ball formats, but consistently failing to replicate it in the longer format.

The 2-2 drawn series in England had been the high point for the team in Tests under new skipper Shubman Gill, while they followed it up with an expected sweep against a weak West Indies last month.

However, their invincible status at home for more than a decade now has come under serious threat – thanks to first the 3-0 whitewash to Kiwis last year with the presence of the ‘Big Two’ in the squad and now another humiliation against the Proteas at the Eden Gardens.

The way the batting line-up capitulated to 93 all out on a deteriorating third wicket raised serious questions about Gambhir’s reported insistence on leaving the wicket dry, an impulsive team selection with four spinners – which meant spinning allrounder Washington Sundar was cast in the role of a No.3 batter.

No offence meant to Washington for he has time and again showed his temperament with the bat, but the decision left out a specialist batter in Sai Sudarshan – who got two fifties in the last two Tests against West Indies. Add to that is the fact that Washington got only one over to bowl in both innings of South Africa.

Defending the Indian team’s preference for a turner, a defiant Gambhir said: ‘’There were no demons in the wicket. As you saw, Bavuma got runs and so did Washington and Axar (Patel).

While on the pitch, it’s the seamers who got most wickets here - one should be ready to grind out on this wicket to get runs.’’ With the match ending two days ahead of schedule, India have convened a practice session at the Eden on Tuesday ahead of their departure for Guwahati.

 The onus came down on the batters as Gambhir felt 124 was a chaseable target on this surface. ‘’There are a number of young players in the line-up. More than skills, mental toughness is the key,'' a distraught Gambhir said. "The point is that you should be able to know how to play turn. And this is what we asked for, and this is what we got. I thought the curator was very supportive."

Replying to a National Herald query whether Axar Patel’s wicket in trying to attack Keshav Maharaj even after hitting two sixes already in the over proved costly, Gambhir said: ‘’I don’t want to point a finger at any individual. With a left-arm spinner in action, Axar obviously wanted to take his chances as there were only 30-odd runs to get.’’

Meanwhile, Gambhir said that Gill is still being ‘assessed’ before they could take on any call about his availability for the second Test. The captain was hospitalised on Saturday afternoon after a neck spasm and was later ruled out of the remaining part of the Eden Test.