Former New Zealand and England cricketers Simon Dull and Nasser Hussain have publicly shared criticism on India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir before the beginning of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Simon even went on and predicted Gambhir’s tenure to be shorter than that of Greg Chappell, who had a hectic time as India’s coach.
“It could be a shorter tenure than Greg Chappell’s tenure in charge of India. We have all either play alongside him or sat with him, we know he can be that gruff type of character. Is it what India need at this moment? Well, they certainly feel they do,” Doull said.
“But it’s a tough ask, and its a huge series coming up. He’s never going to be friendly with the media, but if he embraced it a little more, he could end up having a bit of a cult following. But not sure he’s going down that road. And if he doesn’t get the results in Australia, or its a 4-1 or 5-0, I don’t know if his job continues,” he added.
Nassser Hussain, another member of commentary panel, made comprision between the leadership of Gambhir and that of Rahul Dravid. He stated how he was surprised with Gambhir’s response to Ricky Ponting.
“It’s a complete flip because they went from Dravid, who was more affable on the outside, but tough as nails inwardly, while Gambhir is angry on the outside and quite calm in the dressing room. But it was an odd dig at Ricky, who was only asked to comment on Virat, and now has been told to speak only on Australian players. That will be a tough ask as a pundit in an India-Australia series,” Nasser said.
The five-match Test series between India and Australia is going to begin November 22nd in Perth. India has had a strong record in recent tours of Australia. However, the recent 3-0 series defeat to New Zealand has raised concerns about the form of the players.
The upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy will now be a crucial one for Gautam Gambhir as the head coach. His recent clash with Ricky Ponting added another instance of disturbance to the series as they had some exchange regarding Virat Kohli.
