It was the eve of the final Test of the riveting England series and coach Gautam Gambhir, on the steps of the Oval dressing room, had in hand a self-help book. A gift from a journalist that he had politely accepted a few minutes back, Gambhir was unlikely to read the hard-bound. For years now, by his own admission, he has been reading and re-reading just one book. Without Fear: The Life and Trial of Bhagat Singh by the late Kuldip Nayar, noted journalist and this newspaper’s acclaimed editor, has been his constant travelling partner.
The Test that mattered was less than 24 hour away, but the mention of the book took Gambhir about a century back – to those turbulent last years of British rule in India and young men with “sarfaroshi ki tamanna” yearning for martyrdom.
The former BJP MP was aware about his hero’s Left leanings but that didn’t come in the way of him idolizing the freedom fighter executed at 23. Gambhir would get goosebumps while talking about Bhagat Singh’s sacrifice and share his angst about history not giving him his due. On that sunny August afternoon at the Oval, Gambhir came across as an ardent nationalist and an advocate of the under-appreciated.
Head coach of the Indian team Gautam Gambhir before the start of a day’s play in the1st Test match between India and South Africa at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. (PHOTO: CREIMAS for BCCI)
Within months, he is being demonised for individually handing over Indian cricket’s precious heirloom – home Test record – first to New Zealand and now to South Africa. So savage is the takedown that if his critics had their way, they would get him booked for sedition.
From plotting to get rid of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, shutting the door on Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, obstructing Sarfraz Khan’s comeback; if reports and rants are to be believed, Gambhir is the sole signatory of all these alleged selection faux pas and systematically dismantling the Indian Test team. Even assuming he was the enemy within, that he is being painted, coaches in Indian don’t have such overarching extra constitutional powers. This is BCCI where the suits still call the shots and he is Gambhir, not Imran Khan.
Gambhir is responsible for Test humiliation at home but others too need to be scrutinised. One valid grudge against Gambhir is his obsession with all-rounders and aversion to specialists. So what did the specialists do in this series to change his opinion?
KL Rahul didn’t score, so went into a shell. He does dance down the track and hit sixes in IPL, so why doesn’t he dare leave the crease and drive the ball down the pitch in Test? He didn’t even sweep, Rahul let the bowlers settle into rhythm, only to end up poking the ball while getting stuck in the crease.
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The other opener Yashasvi Jaiswal couldn’t stop himself from cutting the ball by left-arm pacer and getting it wrong. Skipper Rishabh Pant, as if it’s an insult to his image, continued with his mindless aggression and remained blind to the situation the team is in or his position as the leader of the pack. Sai Sudharshan, since England, can’t keep the ball down when playing strokes on the leg-side.
Pure bowlers, Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah, weren’t as effective as the South African specialist bowlers. They at least had a case. It can easily argue they were up against better batsmen. Temba Bavuma had doggedness or technique, India’s batsmen had none.
So did India get their squad selection right? Almost. It’s a bitter spill to push down the throat that there aren’t any ready-made Test cricketers on the first-class circuit anymore. There isn’t a young Virat Kohli or Jasprit Bumrah beating the dressing room door manically, threatening to break down.
So what happened to India’s world-class batting assembly line that threw up Test stars? Lack of raw material is the big problem, for the brightest are being hired by the T20 business houses with glittering pay packages and perks. Being a red-ball specialist is more of a compulsion for those who find themselves in the pool of left-overs.
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No clean chit to coach
But even the most lenient of judges wouldn’t give the head coach a clean chit. Gambhir runs the team on instincts and quirks. That needs to change. Him dropping a specialist No.3 batsmen to play four spinners at Kolkata is not a radical thought but a brain-fade moment.
Question needs to be asked about the credentials of Dhruv Jurel and Nitish Reddy in Tests on pitches with spin and bounce. They are committed cricketers, the archetypical silent triers, ready to walk through the wall for the coach, the kind Gambhir likes. But they have looked like misfits in this series.
Reddy, after his Test hundred in Melbourne, said facing bouncers from Aussie bowlers was like “taking a bullet for your country”. Jurel, son of an army man, would do a rifle salute after a hundred against the West Indies. Gambhir, who as a child dreamt for wearing the military fatigue, often refers to Jurel and Reddy as players with the ideal attitude. What if those without the regimental attitude have skill and temperament to do well in cricket’s toughest format? They too need to be indulged.
True great coaches discipline the undisciplined, bring them back on track. Weeding out the difficult players is an easy way out, it’s a primer for building a mediocre team. Pant and Jaiswal are the team’s spine, straightening them is the job of the coach.
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Gautam Gambhir Head Coach of India during the 1st T20i Match between India and England held at the Eden Gardens Stadium, Kolkata, India on the 22nd January 2025. (Sportzpics)
The reason for the world to dump all the dirt outside Gambhir’s door is also because of a very unIndian trait Gambhir has shown. He speaks his mind and sounds too righteous.
A batsman with two match-winning World Cup knocks but modest international record, a long-time opener in a line-up that had the Fab Four, Gambhir has been a constant critic of star-culture. It’s a stand that hasn’t gone well with the social-media influencing fan armies of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli – the popular players who lost their position in the team during Gambhir’s era. Add to that the coach’s thinly-veiled attack on two powerful voices in the commentary box. Gambhir has way too many enemies.
There is nothing to suggest that he doesn’t mean what he says but Gambhir’s repeated mention of him and his team “shouldering the dreams of 1.4 billion Indians” sounds too theatrical to this largely cynical world. His emphasis on ‘team first’ ideology, the saintly stand of not singling out players of praise or criticism too can get too sugary.Modern lexicon has a word for it, they call it virtue-signalling.
If Gambhir had the tact and was less-confrontative, he would have ensured that the end of the game Guwahati Test press conference was strategically boring. Just like Rahul Dravid. He also needs to understand the criticism of him and his team is valid. The nationalist that he is, had he not been the coach, Gambhir too would have reacted strongly on the end of a proud home run.