Sitanshu Kotak, the batting coach for India, backed head coach Gautam Gambhir in the face of criticism levelled at the latter after South Africa’s 30-run victory in the first Test match at Eden Gardens.
Reminiscent of the 0–3 thumping by New Zealand the previous year, India was outplayed by the Proteas on a rank-turner. Gambhir has been under fire from both fans and experts for India’s shortcomings in the red-ball format. Kotak did point out that both the players and the other members of the support team could have done things better.
“Everybody is discussing Gautam Gambhir.
At a press conference on Thursday, Kotak stated, “No one is saying that the bowlers, batsmen, or support staff could have done things differently.”
Kotak also defended Sujan Mukherjee, the main curator at Eden Gardens who is under heat for the amount of turn the pitch had. According to the 53-year-old, the team management was unprepared for the track to begin spinning so brilliantly on Day 2.
“Every home team performs to its strengths whether we travel overseas or play a Test at home. We have chosen spin-friendly tracks in India ever since I took over as batting coach. Since spin is our speciality, we always anticipated that a match would last at least four days and that the ball would turn a little. The pitch in the most recent game was dirty and eroding a little, as everyone could see. “That was surprising,” Kotak remarked.
We believed that starting on the third day, the spinners would be used effectively. Not even the curators anticipated that. It is unusual to see that much turn on the second day. It most likely occurred because the pitch underneath was firm from frequent rolling and the top layer was dry,” he continued.
Perhaps some people have personal agendas: Following the game, Kotak Gambhir said that the curator had provided him the precise pitch he had requested. Kotak clarified, nevertheless, that the two-time IPL champion made this statement to avoid criticism of the curators.
“Gautam accepted full responsibility for the pitch during the previous game. “He just stated that we had asked for this kind of pitch because he didn’t want to blame the curators,” Kotak remarked.
According to the former head coach of Saurashtra, the criticism that Gambhir and the squad players receive is occasionally motivated by an agenda.
Some people may have personal objectives. “I wish them luck, but it’s terrible,” Kotak said.
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