Should Gambhir continue as India’s Test coach? BCCI needs to give 6-8 more months, says ex-India batter

Gautam Gambhir’s transition from an Indian Premier League (IPL) mentor to Team India head coach started on the right note. All was well until the New Zealand Test series at home in October-November. By the end of it, calls for Gambhir’s removal had emerged.

Team India hadn’t lost at home in 12 years. The streak didn’t just end, but it was a humiliating first-ever whitewash at home in India’s Test history. Then, a few months later, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was lost after 10 years as well.

The drawn series between India and England has redeemed Gambhir a bit, but his tactics have been questioned quite a bit. It often seems like he picks the team more like a T20 match than a Test.

Should persist with Gambhir as Test coach

Amid all of this criticism, former India wicketkeeper batter Deep Dasgupta has backed him. He thinks everyone, including the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), should back him. Since Gambhir took over a team under transition, with the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma retiring under him, he was always going to struggle.

“This team is going through a transition period, and for me, the transition period would have two phases. First one is the earlier generation leaving. Then, the next one where you are creating a new side for the future. I think we’re still in that middle phase where a lot of the guys are leaving and the new guys are coming in. So you’ve got to put whole of Gautam’s strength so far in that context. You’ve got to be a little more patient, not just with Gautam, but with the team and players as well, which would be another 6-8 months,” Dasgupta told RevSportz.

The cricketer-turned-commentator thinks Gambhir should be given some time to build a team. If after 6 to 8 months, India struggles at home especially, then by all means, talks about removing him should be had.

“I think this team, whether it’s white-ball or red-ball, you’ll have a better idea of where the team is, a better idea of how the coaches performed if we give it some time. It’s little too early, keeping in mind that Indian teams going into a transition, to say anything about Gautam. I think he has done a good job in England. Yeah, obviously, we’re talking about a start from the New Zealand series at home, which was kind of nightmarish. But then again, that was kind of start of the transition period, isn’t it? And I don’t think it’s complete as yet. I think it’ll be unfair to start judging based on what we’ve seen in the last 6-8 months,” he added.

Gautam Gambhir’s coaching record in Test cricket

The post Should Gambhir continue as India’s Test coach? BCCI needs to give 6-8 more months, says ex-India batter appeared first on Inside Sport India.