Sack Gautam Gambhir: India coach's horrendous Test record demands immediate change

Reasons revealed why India should sack Gambhir [Source: AFP Photo]

For the second time in the space of a year, the Indian Test team suffered a humiliating whitewash as South Africa followed New Zealand’s footsteps and inflicted a 3-0 clean sweep at home, a feat that was never seen before in Indian cricket. While the blame should fall on the eleven players, but a part of it should also go towards the coaching staff, mainly the head coach, Gautam Gambhir.

Under head coach Gambhir, India has suffered two whitewashes and has yet to taste success against SENA nations. India have slipped below Pakistan in the WTC points table and here are a few reasons why time has come for the management to sack Gambhir as the coach of the team.

1) Shambolic Test record under Gambhir's tenure

• There was a sense of optimism when India blanked Bangladesh in the home Test series last summer, and experts believed that it was the start of a new era. However, disaster was yet to arrive as New Zealand came to India and inflicted a series whitewash.
• India lost the first Test in Bengaluru, and for the first time in 36 years, the team lost to the Kiwis at home. Moreover, the loss marked the first Test series at home since 2012, when India were outplayed by the opponent, and they lost the series.
• India lost the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia, Down Under, and it marked the first instance since the 2014-25 series that Australia managed to sneak in a series win against India at home.
• Moreover, the team was whitewashed by the Proteas, and it was only the third time India got blanked in a home Test series.
• Under Gambhir India has only managed to beat Bangladesh, and West Indies at home, while failing to beat New Zealand and South Africa.

2) Worst Test coaching record in recent times

(Gambhir as Test head coach)

• As the record clearly states, Gambhir has managed to coach India in 19 Test matches and has an abysmal record. While his T20I credentials are outstanding, the red-ball numbers reflect a sorry state of affairs.
• Out of the 19 Tests, he has only won 7 matches, and has a win percentage of 36.84, which is the worst by any coach in modern era.
• The last two coaches, Rahul Dravid and Ravi Shastri had outstanding numbers as Test captain and the stats reveal the story.
• Dravid coached India in 24 Tests, and won 14 of them and had a win percentage of 58%.
• Meanwhile, Shastri coached India in 46 Tests and the team won 28 of those, and he had a win percentage of 60.87.

Baffling selection decisions that haunts India

India is yet to replace Cheteshwar Pujara at number 3, and under Gambhir’s tenure, the side has tried a plethora of options and constant changing and chopping has ruined Indian cricket.

• The team has lost its identity, and despite coaching the Indian team for the last 1.5 years, the number 3 dilemma continues to haunt Gambhir.
• Moreover, his selection and removal decisions have also come under scrutiny. The removal of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in an abrupt manner raised questions, and the Test selections also raised eyebrows as the likes of Sai Sudharsan and Nitish Kumar Reddy were picked, not on the basis of domestic cricket, but rather what the duo did in the IPL.

Conclusion

With just seven wins in 19 matches, and a win percentage of 36.84, Gambhir’s red-ball career is under scrutiny as he became the first Indian head coach to have a back-to-back home series whitewash. With India languishing in the WTC table, perhaps time has come for the selectors to take the bold ‘sacking’ call.

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