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While numerous fingers have been raised at Gambhir’s coaching style, especially in Test cricket, one of his support staff now seems to be in hot water.
India have lost five of their last seven Tests under Gautam Gambhir. (BCCI Photo)
Reports of possible unrest in the Indian cricket team caused a massive stir on the first day of 2025. After losing the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, head coach Gautam Gambhir reportedly blasted the players for not sticking to the plan. It was also learned that the atmosphere in the dressing room is far from harmonious, while there’s a tussle for captaincy with Rohit Sharma likely to take a call on his Test future after the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy.
While numerous fingers have been raised at Gambhir’s coaching style, especially in Test cricket, one of his support staff now seems to be in hot water. According to PTI, the BCCI mandarins are keeping a tab on certain other developments about one of the key members of the support staff, who is being accompanied at all the venues by his personal assistant.
It has been learnt that the person in question used to have FOP (Field of Play) access during the IPL, where he would stride into the playing arena after games in a franchise jersey. In Australia, his presence in the box dedicated to BCCI members hasn’t been appreciated.
As far as Gambhir is concerned, not all seems to be well for the Indian coach. The report also stated that the former India opener is not on the same page with most of the players in the team, and the communication isn’t as good as it used to be during the time of Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid.
Even captain Rohit Sharma’s approach to his players has changed. Earlier, he used to speak individually to the players about selection issues. But after Gambhir took charge in July, Sharma hasn’t given clarity to some of the not-so-junior players about why they were being excluded at times from the side, the report stated.
His own poor form hasn’t helped Sharma’s cause. But it is also reliably learnt that Gambhir, who is considered a more assertive person, hasn’t earned a lot of confidence from the group of players who are not as old as Virat Kohli or Sharma but are also not rookies like Harshit Rana or Nitish Reddy.
“There is a Test match to be played and then there is the Champions Trophy. If the performance doesn’t improve, even Gautam Gambhir’s position wouldn’t be safe,” a senior BCCI official was quoted as saying by PTI.
(With PTI Inputs)
