Ab de Villiers on Gautam Gambhir: ‘I’ve known him as an emotional player…generally an emotional coach is not a good thing to have’

On Wednesday, India was whitewashed by South Africa 2-0 at Guwahati. It has happened for the second time under Gautam Gambhir’s tenure as Head Coach after the New Zealand debacle last year. The result on Wednesday has raised a few questions about Gambhir’s role as head coach. Plenty of former players and pundits have been quite critical of Gambhir’s coaching style and tactics. Former South African cricketer Ab de Villiers gave his view on the same as well.

“Speaking on behalf of the Indian side, it’s really difficult. I don’t know what GG is like when it comes to leadership. I’ve known him as an emotional player and if that is the case in the change room, generally an emotional coach is not a good thing to have. But it’s not to say he’s that kind of a coach and the kind of leader behind the scenes. There’s no right and wrong. Some players will feel comfortable with a former player. Some players will be comfortable with a coach that’s never played the game before but he’s got a lot of years of experience of coaching the game,” De Villiers said on R Ashwin’s YouTube channel.

“It’s a tough question because I’ve never played under Shukri and I’ve never been in the Indian dressing room with GG, Morne Morkel and Ryan ten Doeschate. It looks great on paper but I don’t know what the dynamic is like behind the scenes. What I can say is it is different for every player,” De Villiers added.

I absolutely love playing under Gary Kirsten; he’s a former player and similar to Gautam Gambhir. Some players might find confidence and feel comfortable with a former player being there, a great of the game and find some extra inspiration to put extra yards for the team and for the coach,” he said.