Ravi Shastri slammed head coach Gautam Gambhir after India’s Test whitewash to South Africa, citing the team’s batting collapse and poor form. While several former cricketers backed Gambhir, Shastri refused to defend him and urged accountability.
Former India captain and head coach turned commentator, Ravi Shastri, has slammed current coach Gautam Gambhir for the decline in India’s Test cricket following the series whitewash at the hands of South Africa in November this year.
Following a 30-run defeat in the Kolkata Test, India were handed an even heavier blow as they lost by a huge margin of 408 runs to South Africa, which is their highest Test defeat at home, and resulted in the series whitewash in front of the home crowd. This was India’s red-ball series whitewash at home after having been defeated by New Zealand in October last year.
In the last three Test series played at home, Team India has only won one against West Indies, and two were whitewashed by New Zealand and South Africa, raising concerns over India’s Test cricket declining dominance at home under head coach Gautam Gambhir, leading to growing pressure on the management to address the slump.
Shastri Fathomed by India’s Batting Collapse in Guwahati Test
In the second and final Test of the series, India witnessed a collapse in the batting line-up, especially first innings, where they were reduced from 95/2 to 122/7, losing five wickets in 27 runs, a collapse that further amplified concerns about India’s fragile batting under Gambhir’s tenure.
Speaking in an interview with Prabhat Khabar Podcast, Ravi Shastri was surprised by India’s batting collapse in the first innings, adding that players should take responsibility.
“You tell me. What happened in Guwahati – from 100/1, you skip to 130/7 – this team is not that bad either. They have this much talent at least. The players should take some responsibility, too. You have played spin since you started playing cricket,” Shastri said.
Scroll to load tweet…
Team India’s batting in the Test series against South Africa was average as they managed to go past the 200-run mark only once in four innings, highlighting a worrying dip in consistency that ultimately proved costly in both matches. Additionally, only two Indian batters managed to aggregate more than 100 runs in the Test series, while South Africa had seven batters
Ravi Shastri Refuses to Protect Gautam Gambhir
Amid the growing chorus to sack Gautam Gambhir as a head coach, former Indian cricketers, including Suresh Raina, Sourav Ganguly, and Sunil Gavaskar, came out in defence of the former India opener. However, Ravi Shastri refused to defend or protect Gambhir as he wanted him to take responsibility for the team’s Test series whitewash.
Shastri stated that Gautam Gambhir is also responsible for India’s Test whitewash to South Africa, rather than just blaming players.
“I’m not protecting [him]. 100 per cent (he is responsible too). When am I saying anything otherwise?,” the former India head coach said.
“Had this happened with me, I would have been the first one to take responsibility. But then, I wouldn’t have spared the players either in the team meeting,” he added.
Gautam Gambhir’s record as a coach in Tests is far from impressive, winning seven matches, losing 10, and two draws in 19 games over the last 14 months, with a winning percentage of with win percentage of just 36.84%, underlining how badly the team’s Test form has collapsed during his tenure.
Meanwhile, the BCCI reportedly would not take any action against Gambhir despite his second consecutive Test series whitewash at home, the T20 World Cup is around the corner and his contract runs till 2027.