Delhi: BCCI’s promise of full support to Team India coach Gautam Gambhir, despite criticism and shameful defeat in the Test series from South Africa, is not being easily digested. This neither ended the discussion about the failure during Gautam Gambhir’s tenure as coach nor the demand for changing the coach. It is not that Team India had never lost before, but this time when the players did not perform as per expectations, it was felt that they did not get the help they should have received in tactics from the head coach. Today’s coaches are meant for this role.

5 such big decisions which proved to be Gautam Gambhir’s biggest mistake as a coach:

Allegations of lack of transparency and bias in team selection:

Many players became victims of his arbitrariness. After scoring 100 in the Test against New Zealand, Sarfaraz Khan failed in the next two matches and was out in such a way that he was almost forgotten. Karun Nair was out after returning from England when he had the first right to get a chance on his own pitches. Excessive trust in Sai Sudarshan. Due to such ups and downs, India’s batting not only became weak but also disintegrated. Since September 2024, India has played 19 Tests and used 24 players. Only West Indies has used more players than this. Why so much turmoil in Team India?

The player doesn’t even know his role:

When a player does not know what his role is in the team or what the team expects from him, then performance is affected. There was a tussle at number 3 between Sai Sudarshan and Karun Nair, Washington Sundar was made number 3 in one test and number 8 in the next test and similarly, Dhruv Jurel was removed from the lower middle order and replaced by Shubman at number 4.

From September 2024, 7 batsmen played at number 3 i.e. a game of musical chairs. There was no scheme to prepare anyone for number 3.

No specialist player for every role:

The makeshift recovery from the all-rounder did no good to the team. While selecting the team, Nitish Kumar Reddy is considered an all-rounder but in the 10 Tests in which he played from September 2024, he took 8 wickets at an average of more than 45. Will the person with such a record in Test be considered an all-rounder? It became a big mistake for Gautam Gambhir to remain stuck in the favourites. This policy does not work in test.

Emphasis on a pitch that was not suitable for Team India’s strengths:

Rank-turner was 0-3 defeat against New Zealand, only one score of 300 in 6 innings and against South Africa, they crossed 200 only once in 4 innings and even in that they scored only 201. Why asked for rank turner in Kolkata? That defeat shook the confidence of the weak batting line-up.

Now in an attempt to save himself from the argument of changes in the team, these changes were part of his scheme:

Now clarifying that the team is going through a phase of change in batting and bowling simultaneously. When Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin left suddenly, his policy played a big role in this. Things could have been handled in a better way. Young players are being asked to do a lot very quickly which is not right.