Sports

Sydney Test: Will Gambhir’s warning have desired effect on team?

Head coach feels the heat as his balance sheet for the first six months has been a disappointment

File photo of Gautam Gambhir
File photo of Gautam Gambhir @Dhonismforlife/X

Is all not well in the Indian dressing room? With barely two days to go before the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar series in Sydney from Friday (3 January), there are disquieting reports of head coach Gautam Gambhir losing his cool after the embarrassing defeat at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), while his handling of the crisis following the downward curve of his team since the Perth Test has not gone down well with some of the senior players.

There were enough reasons for the coach to lose his shirt over the visitors’ performance on the fifth day of the MCG Test, when they lost seven wickets for just 34 runs in the final session to be handed a 184-run defeat after looking good to save the Test. The victory gave Australia an unassailable 2-1 lead and practically ended India’s chances of making it to the World Test Championship (WTC) final for the third time in a row.

 A report in Indian Express claims that Gambhir had pulled up the entire team, saying ‘bahut ho gaya (enough is enough)'. The former Indian opener had reportedly said without naming names that he had given a long rope to some of the players and would now expect them to follow the Gambhir diktat or be ready to face the consequences.

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Granted that the Indian top order has failed to fire as a group so far, with the woeful form of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma compounding matters, but Gambhir’s handling of contentious cricketing issues during such a demanding Test series also leaves a lot to be desired.

A number of the team management's decisions have come under scrutiny — be it the one of playing three different spinners in the first three Tests, tinkering with the opening pair in the fourth Test to make room for a hopelessly out-of-form Sharma up the order, or handing rookie Harshit Rana a debut in Perth at the expense of Akash Deep.

The biggest question mark on Gambhir and Rohit’s man management skills erupted after the Gabba Test, when Ravi Ashwin decided to call time on his international career and left for India in a huff. An educated guess behind such a drastic step has been Ashwin’s growing frustration at having to sit out repeatedly on overseas tours on the pretext of team combination, but it was nothing short of a fiasco, for which the responsibility lies at the doorstep of the coach and the captain.

The Express report reveals that a livid Gambhir said he had let the team do what it wanted for the last months (he had taken over on 9 July), but would now dictate on how they should play. In a veiled warning to players to toe the line, he is learnt to have said that going ahead, those who don’t abide by his pre-decided team strategy would be given a “thank you”.

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It’s not surprising that Gambhir would face the heat as the balance sheet of the team looks dismal after the first six months of his tenure. A ODI series loss to Sri Lanka after nearly three decades, the 3-0 whitewash at the hands of Kiwis and now being on the verge of failing to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final three times in a row has not done his case any favour.

There are already muted questions about Gambhir’s credentials as the national coach for all three formats – as all his coaching expertise lay in three seasons of mentorship in the IPL. The BCCI (read: erstwhile secretary Jay Shah) convinced the former BJP MP for the role almost as a compromise candidate as their first choice was VVS Laxman, while they allowed him to pick up the support staff of his choice from his band of Kolkata Knight Riders core group like Abhishek Nayar, Ryan Ten Doeschate or bowling coach Morne Morkel (Lucknow Super Giants).

 The spin-friendly conditions at Sydney, venue for the final Test, gives India a chance to bounce back and salvage their reputation. If not, Gambhir will have some serious explanation to give while the composition of the Test team can wear a much different look in the New Year.

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