Gautam Gambhir’s contradictions: In press conference post South Africa series defeat in Guwahati, India head coach’s puzzling comments

Cliched as it might be, that’s what most coaches would say when fronting up after a damaging defeat. But after starting the press conference with these lines, at various points he’d go on to make pointed remarks about the batting collapse in the first innings, when his side went from from 95/1 to 122/7, terming it acceptable. When asked how one quantifies accountability, he went on to say this: “It comes from care. How much you care about the dressing room and the team? Accountability and the game situation can never be taught. You can talk about skills, you can work on skills, you can keep talking about the mental aspect of the game, but ultimately when you go in, if you keep putting the team ahead of your own self, not thinking, ‘this is how I play, and this is how I will get the results, I don’t have plan B,’ so sometimes you will get these kind of collapses as well. More than the accountability, it’s the care. How much you care about Indian cricket and how much you care about the team and people sitting in the dressing room is important as well.” If any one of those six batters who were dismissed in that period were to read this, the message is that the buck stopped with them, and they didn’t care enough for their wicket or for the dressing room.

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“I know that I hate using this word… transition. This is exactly what transition is. When you’ve got a batting lineup which has literally played less than 15-20 Test matches, they need time to absorb pressure, they need time to keep getting better against quality attacks and against quality sides.”

He refused to call in transition in England too during the summer, but after saying he hated that word, Gambhir went on to explain how the batting lineup in the series against South Africa was inexperienced. But the lack of continuity in personnel and instability in the batting order during Gambhir’s tenure lie in direct contradiction. While it is indeed big shoes to fill for the recently retired stalwarts, the Indian side still had plenty of experience in their ranks.

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“Start prioritising Test cricket. If we really care about Test cricket and want it to flourish in India, I think we’ve got to have a collective effort to make that happen. If you get runs in white-ball formats, suddenly you forget about what you have done in red-ball cricket. That should never happen.”

Over the English summer and during the home season as well, some of India’s selection calls don’t necessarily scream ‘red-ball success’, instead Gambhir has opted for all-rounders over specialists. Those who prioritised domestic red-ball cricket, like Sarfaraz Khan and Karun Nair, have gotten shorter ropes. Even if there are valid reasons for those specific calls, it doesn’t sync with his larger vision.

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“It is up to BCCI to decide. I’ve said it during my first press conference. Indian cricket is important; I’m not. And I sit here and say exactly the same thing. And yes, people can keep forgetting about it. I’m the same guy who got results in England as well, with a young team. I’m sure you guys will forget very soon because a lot of people keep talking about New Zealand. And I’m the same guy under whom we won Champions Trophy and Asia Cup as well.”

For someone who has been on record saying a tournament can’t be won by won shot in the end by one individual. But after saying that his future as a head coach is up to BCCI, Gambhir threw a strong first-person retort, emphasising a couple of times “I am the same guy…” for a couple of good results in recent times across formats. The narrative quickly shifted from him not being important for Indian cricket to offering reminders of the wins.