Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir has been massively under pressure after India lost a fourth consecutive Test match at home against SENA nations, failing to chase 124 in the fourth innings against South Africa in the series opener in Kolkata. A string of poor results under his tenure has led to many calling for a more experienced Test coach to step into his shoes, and finding good cricket as well as results is now key for Gambhir.
However, Gambhir wasn’t the only one under the microscope as the Eden Gardens curators caught flak for a surface which hosted less than 3 days of Test cricket. Sourav Ganguly, who heads the West Bengal cricket board and knows what it means to hold this kind of responsibility in Indian cricket, spoke at length about the opening Test, and came to Gambhir’s defence following the opening loss.
“There’s no question of sacking Gautam Gambhir at this stage, but there is no question that they have to get together and work hard to win Test matches because on flat pitches it’s a lot harder,” said Ganguly while speaking on Sports Tak, providing his backing to the head coach.
“In India, you will see how quickly the game changes on Day 4, Day 5, so they have to be patient on that. They have the bowling attack to get 20 wickets as you saw at the Oval on the last day, as you saw in Edgbaston,” continued Ganguly.
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Ganguly's advice for Gambhir
The former Indian captain repeatedly mentioned the 2-2 drawn series in England as an example for Gambhir, captain Shubman Gill, and the rest of the team to try to look up to, and stated if they could find success overseas, they would at home as well.
{{/usCountry}}The former Indian captain repeatedly mentioned the 2-2 drawn series in England as an example for Gambhir, captain Shubman Gill, and the rest of the team to try to look up to, and stated if they could find success overseas, they would at home as well.
{{/usCountry}}“Gautam as a coach and Shubman as a captain did exceptionally well on flat England pitches, and I firmly believe they can do well in India as well,” said Gambhir.
However, Ganguly did have recommendations for Gambhir to change some things around in his combination, particularly to do with Washington Sundar. While the all-rounder was impressive batting at number three, Ganguly doesn’t see this as a long-term solution for the Indian team.
“They must look at the batting order. I have a lot of time for Washington Sundar, I think he’s a tremendous cricketer, but I’m not sure number 3 is his position to play in the long term in Test cricket,” said Ganguly.
“That’s the area Gautam needs to look at, he doesn’t need four spinners in India. When it spins and spinners can bowl 25-30 overs, you don’t need four spinners. Keep your best 5 batters as your top 5 batsmen,” he concluded.
Gambhir has been criticised in the past for going too heavy on all-rounders rather than specialist players in certain positions, and finding the right balance in Tests is a different animal to finding it in limited overs cricket, where Gambhir has shown his expertise and sharpness.
India will be desperate to stop the sid and get a result on the board in the second match of the series vs the Proteas in Guwahati.