Gautam Gambhir hasn’t escaped criticism. Four Test series into his tenure as head coach, India has won just 1. His tactics have been questioned. Playing all-rounders over specialists and overusing wicket-taker bowlers are the biggest criticisms of Gambhir.
All of this might be true, but the fact is, Gambhir has done his job as a man manager. Each player who’s worked with him since last July mentions the same: how Gambhir instills them with belief. In modern-day cricket, a coach’s job isn’t to change techniques but to bring out the best of a player. So far, Gambhir’s done that.
Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy are prime examples of that. Even Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishan have thrived under Gambhir. Shardul Thakur, who couldn’t make his mark in the India vs England Test series, has iterated the same.
What India lacked
No one was backing Team India. It was a young team with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami, and Ravichandran Ashwin. Jasprit Bumrah didn’t play all the matches either. Shardul shared how this impacted Team India.
“When your backs are against the wall, there is no going back, and that was the situation, having two of the most senior pro players [Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma] retiring from the game and not having Mohammed Shami in the squad. The bit of experience this team had was in the form of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. The batting unit was fairly inexperienced, except for KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant,” Shardul told RevSportz.
Gambhir’s words of wisdom
The all-rounder revealed that Gambhir told them to seize the moment. Many of the players, including Shardul, were looking to regulars in the team. Some were debutants, others were making a comeback. Gambhir inspired them alike. In the absence of Rohit and Kohli, he took charge, and it clearly had an effect.
“This team had no other option than to rise and put up a fight, because at the end of the day, you are representing India. Even our team huddles had Gauti Bhai [Gautam Gambhir] saying: “You are lucky to be representing your country.” Maybe young, but we are here because of our talent, and as our coach said: “If you have the belief, then there is no opponent that you cannot beat. If it’s your day, you can take any side down, based on how badly you want it.”
And most importantly, when youngsters are in the team, they would do anything to showcase their talent in front of the world. I guess that’s what lifted the morale of the team and kept our team going,” Shardul added.
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