Former India batter Suresh Raina said that the blame of India’s failures in the recent South Africa series cannot be pinned on only head coach Gautam Gambhir and his support staff, adding that the players should also take responsibility.
“Gauti bhaiya (Gautam Gambhir) has worked really hard and he is not at all at fault. The players have to work really hard and play well. Under him we have been doing great in the white-ball format where we just won the ICC Champions Trophy and Asia Cup in Dubai earlier this year. The players have to score, the coach can only guide, advise and give support to the players” Raina told ‘PTI Videos’.
“If they (the players) are facing any issues, they must be communicating to the coach that this is the issue. If the players do well then the coach will be also applauded. But if the team is not doing well, it should not be that the coach should be sacked from his post. I have played with Gautam bhaiya, he loves Indian cricket team, he loves cricket, I have played and won the World Cup with him. So, he has done really well for the country and it is the players’ responsibility to do well,” he added.
India are currently in a world of trouble, having already lost 2 wickets in their chase of 549 runs in the second Test at Guwahati. They are already 0-1 down in the series after losing the first Test match in Kolkata a couple of weeks ago.
The former CSK batter also said that he was looking forward to the ODI series between the two sides starting November 30 where senior-most batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be in action.
“Ro-Ko (Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli) will be back, yes. They did well in Australia and will surely strengthen the ODI squad against South Africa. Both of them are great ambassadors for world and Indian Cricket. When they’ll be in the side then the atmosphere will be different, Rishabh Pant is also back after a while so it will be fun to watch the ODI series,” he said.
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