From left, India captain Rohit Sharma, head coach Gautam Gambhir and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar (PTI Photo)
NEW DELHI: India head coach Gautam Gambhir spoke categorically about “honesty” and “honest people” at his press conference in Sydney on Thursday, saying it was essential for a team in transition.
Speaking ahead of the decisive fifth and final Test of the ongoing Frontier Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series, Gambhir answered all the tough questions after India’s dismal performance in the last three Tests of the series, following their victory during the tour’s opening in Perth.
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India’s 184-run defeat in Melbourne gave the Australians a 2-1 lead going into the final match. India must win their final Test to retain the BGT as winners of the previous edition, while a draw will ensure Australia reclaim the trophy for the first time since 2014.
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“The kind of talent there is in Indian cricket, we will always be in good hands. But there will be times when we don’t get results, we will have to be patient,” said Gambhir, who took over from Rahul Dravid as India head coach six months ago. “More than criticizing young players, we will also have to give them time to develop, and that is not just the role of the support staff, but also of you (the media) – probably not to criticize them but to help them too. . The transition is not just happening for us but for the country and we are in it together.
Indian batting has been inconsistent throughout the tour, with only Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul showing any sort of consistency among the specialist hitters, besides the tour find – all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who reached his first international century in Melbourne.
Captain Rohit Sharma’s dismal run with the bat continued, while Virat Kohli’s graph took a turn for the worse once again after his century in Perth.
With the legendary Indian duo in the twilight of their careers and struggling, Gambhir was also asked about his views on the transition and how he plans to handle it in the future.
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“Indian cricket will always be in good hands as long as we have honest people sitting in this room, and honesty is the most important thing for any transition. It’s not about phasing out the senior players and bringing in the younger ones…Ultimately the only thing that can keep you in the dressing room is performance, and that starts with all of us,” said Gambhir.
“Indian cricket is going through an exciting time. I always thought that when transitions happened in the past, there was a department that moved the team forward. But for now, the transition is going to happen in both departments (bowling and batting) and you can already see it. You can see young fast bowlers coming up; there are younger hitters who are on their first tour of Australia and have done exceptionally well.
“Look at Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Reddy or Washington Sundar; Akash Deep bowled very well and so did Harshit (Rana). So the conversation that took place was only about how we can play well in this series,” Gambhir said to conclude his response.
