Gautam Gambhir not the right man for coaching job
In common parlance, spinning a yarn is well-known. When it comes to Indian cricket, there is now so much spin, you don’t know how to deal with it. First things first, the horror images from the Eden Gardens refuse to go away, following the spineless loss to South Africa on Sunday in the first Test.
Call it hilarious or call it a man who is innocent of cricket coaching, when Gautam Gambhir said wickets fell not to spinners but to fast bowlers, he was talking rubbish. The scorecard does not lie, Mr Gambhir. And in India’s second innings, one Simon Harmer did the harm, where the Indian batters collapsed.
Images of Gambhir and the joker (curator) at the Eden Gardens smiling and posing for pictures was simply sick, after the match. Imagine, there is no responsibility, there is not a semblance of having done badly. The curator did badly, worse the coach said he had ordered for it. Well, how the BCCI puts up with such an incompetent coach is trying to defend the indefensible.
If you have heard press conferences of Gautam Gambhir since the time he took over in July 2024, it has all been glib talk. He may think he is a great orator, having been a Member of Parliament from East Delhi. Fact is, Gambhir was eased out of active politics and cricket coaching was a carrot dangled to him. Perhaps, it was the worst thing to do, hand a coaching job to someone who has no formal coaching experience. If people say he was coach at Kolkata Knight Riders, nonsense. He was, at best, a mentor.
Gambhir has not even understood these batters who are picked for the Test side are clueless against spin. So, if Gambhir thinks Indian spinners, four of them, would rock South Africa, it boomeranged. No way can you teach batters to play spin overnight. In the case of Harmer, his spin was not even vicious, it was just mixing deliveries up. Not one of these blokes can play spin, not even spin which is club class. As respected Sunil Gavaskar said later, there was no venom in the Eden track.
Look at the Test record since the time Gambhir took over as coach. We failed miserably in Australia. Yes, the showing in England was much better. At least from that, Gambhir should have learnt, Indian batters are better while playing against fast and medium fast bowlers, not spinners. Flip through data, so many average teams have come to India and their spinners have bamboozled Indian batters.
There is a dangerous duo out there ruining Indian cricket in tandem – Gambhir and chairman of selection committee Ajit Agarkar. Pompous, bombastic and arrogant as well, the way they have ruined Indian cricket with wrong selections, knee-jerk choices and asking two seasoned pros to pack up reeks of arrogance. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are told go and play domestic ODIs. Fine, say it, but the way they were treated and the way a Sarfaraz Khan has been bullied and wrecked by Gambhir is well-known. There are so many careers being ruined.
And, pray, why this fetish for Shubman Gill? He has ruined the T20 rhythm and batting order, failed to deliver. When the talk has been workload management, why would you want to ensure Gill flies to Guwahati for the second Test. Gill is unfit. Even more laughable, the young man who was released from the Test squad has been called back, Nitish Reddy. This theatre of absurd where the central characters are Gambhir and Agarkar is becoming deadly. If a reference is made that they are vengeful and clueless, it’s a 100 per cent true.
Rewind to the 2024 Test series against New Zealand at home, we failed. And the coach was Gambhir. Even against West Indies in the Test at Kotla recently, India struggled to get wickets. Hello, Mr Gambhir, our spinners may be good but our Indian batters are not even equipped to deal with club class spinners. We do not have a Gavaskar or GR Viswanath, who exemplified class and brilliance, wrist work and footwork being their forte. These modern-day Indian batters in the Test squad are ill-equipped to tackle spin. A few net sessions at the Eden Gardens won’t certainly transform them into batters who can face the tweakers.
The school master – Gautam Gambhir -- himself needs lessons. He is not fit to be India coach in the long run, certainly not for Test cricket. Hope the BCCI realises they have messed up. Big time.
