Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has put his weight behind Gautam Gambhir after 0-2 series whitewash against South Africa. Gambhir has been criticised by a lot of cricket boffins after India has suffered five losses in their last seven Test matches at home.
Gavaskar questioned the experts and fans for blaming Gautam Gambhir for India’s failures at home when they didn’t give him the credit for Champions Trophy and Asia Cup success.
India lost to New Zealand by 0-3 in 2024 and now have succumbed against South Africa at home. The Indian batters could not put up a fight in the second Test as the hosts suffered a huge loss of 408 runs.
Sunil Gavaskar said on India Today, “Not necessarily. You have coaches, for example, Brendon McCullum is a coach for all three formats for England. A lot of countries have a coach who is there for all formats. But we tend to only look and point a finger at somebody when the team has lost. You’re not prepared to give him credit. If you’re not prepared to give him credit for the Champions Trophy and the Asia Cup win, then please tell me why you want to blame him for the team out there on that 22-yard, not doing well. Why are you blaming him?”
The legendary batter questioned India’s hectic schedule in the International calendar. Three days prior to the Test series against Proteas, India was playing a T20I series in Australia.
“That is the way the market forces are. The market forces at the moment mean that India is a team that is asked to in other countries just about every year because that boosts their TV revenue. See, last year they played 5 Test matches in Australia. And what happened this year again? We went to Australia in the middle of our home season. I think that is the thing that India needs to be very strong about, that Australia doesn’t go anywhere during their home season. India should also say to other teams, ‘Look, our season is more important. You want to play against us, you come to India’.”
India will next take on South Africa in a three-match ODI series, starting Sunday.
