Following yet another subpar Test performance at home, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir has stated that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will decide his future as head coach of the national side. The South Africa series defeat was India’s second Test cricket defeat at home in their previous three matches under Gambhir’s leadership.
Gambhir was just as accountable to himself as the team.
Additionally, he highlighted India’s poor performance in their opening innings of the Guwahati Test and underlined that he would not single out any particular player’s mistake.
“The BCCI has the final say over my future. However, I am the same person who coached you for the Champions Trophy and got you results in England. Everyone is at fault, but it begins with me. We must improve our performance. It is unacceptable for India to go from 95/1 to 122/7 in the first innings of the second Test. You don’t point the finger at any specific person or shot. Everyone is at fault. “I have never placed blame on anyone and I will not do so in the future,” Gambhir said at the press conference held after the game.
Rishabh Pant, the squad’s standby captain, hoped that the team would learn from the crushing 408-run defeat at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium. Additionally, he emphasised how India failed to capitalise on their favourable circumstances during the series.
We must accept the lessons learnt and remain united as a team. We had to have a clear mentality. We must grow from it and improve in the future. They performed better at cricket, a game that requires teamwork to succeed. And we lost the entire series because we didn’t do it. Focussing on our own approach will be the benefit, and that’s what we’ll learn from this series,” said Pant.
India had not lost a Test series at home against the Proteas in twenty-five years until their series loss to South Africa. They were defeated by 30 runs in the first match of the series in Kolkata. However, the team suffered a severe blow after losing by 408 runs in Guwahati.
The hosts now face three ODIs and five T20Is. The performance of the white-ball teams against South Africa will be intriguing to see. KL Rahul will skipper the 50-over team instead of Gill, who has been out owing to a nerve-related neck injury. T20I team captain is Suryakumar Yadav.
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