'Terrible': Gavaskar Reckons Gambhir's Awful Record As Head Coach Self-Explanatory

Sunil Gavaskar shares his take on Gambhir's shaky start as India's head coach [Source: @shailu_CA/@ahadfoooty/X.com]

In a scathing attack, former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar opined that judging Gautam Gambhir’s tenure as team India’s head coach is useless as the numbers speak for themselves. The two back to back terrible series losses against Sri Lanka and New Zealand has stained Gambhir’s legacy as mentor in just 6 months of tenure.

Gautam Gambhir is facing excessive heat after India lost their first home Test series in 12 years against New Zealand just 6 months after he replaced Rahul Dravid as head coach. Previously, India also snapped their 28 years long winning streak against Sri Lanka to lose the 3-game ODI series.

Notably, in just 6 months since taking over as India senior team’s head coach, Gautam Gambhir became a part of two back to back shambolic losses. 

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Sunil Gavaskar's blunt take on Gambhir's struggles as head coach

Naturally fans are questioning his competency as a mentor. Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar recently weighed in on the matter and opined that numbers speak for themselves. Gavaskar told IndiaToday that Gambhir’s record as coach is self explanatory and undoubtedly, he needs to introspect. 

"The results speak for themselves. Even in Sri Lanka, India lost an ODI series after a long time. And now here, it's a loss, it's a terrible loss. So, I think the results speak for themselves," Gavaskar said.

Not only that, the former cricketer blamed India’s think tank for strategic mishaps and called for accountability.

"Well, I think every team has a think tank. Probably the captain, vice-captain and the coach -- these are the guys who take the decisions. If it doesn't work out, it looks bad. I think these decisions would have been taken by the think tank," he added.

Sunil Gavaskar also raised question marks on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s future in Test cricket. He noted that if the veteran duo fails in Australia, their future in red-ball cricket looks extremely bleak. Notably, Kohli and Rohit scored a combined 184 runs in 6 innings with an average below 30. He concluded:

"Definitely yes. If they (Rohit and Virat) don't score runs in Australia, there will be a clamour for a new-look Indian team to start from the tour of England."

BCCI to strip Gambhir’s special power

In a startling revelation, a BCCI source told PTI that Gautam Gambhir was allowed to be a part of the selection committee meeting that confirmed the squad for the Australia tour. As per BCCI rule book, head coaches are not mandated to be a part of selection meetings and his predecessors Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid were also denied the privilege. However, given the magnitude of the Border-Gavaskar series, an exception was made. But with the New Zealand series loss, Gambhir is set to lose this privilege henceforth.

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