'Cut him some slack': Ex-India star comes to Gautam Gambhir's rescue as anger against head coach escalates

Dinesh Karthik, a former Indian cricketer, has expressed empathy for Gautam Gambhir as he takes on a challenging task following Rahul Dravid's brilliant tenure as coach. Karthik understands how difficult it will be to fill Dravid's shoes. Unfortunately, under Gambhir's leadership, India suffered setbacks in the ODI series against Sri Lanka for the first time in almost two decades. The team ended up a clean sweep of the three-Test series against New Zealand while Rohit Sharma was captain.

Karthik predicts a difficult road ahead for Gambhir in the coming months, especially after India lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade last week. Since Gambhir assumed leadership, there have been allegations of discontent in the locker room, as well as questions regarding Gambhir's relationship with Rohit. Gambhir will undoubtedly need to manage these concerns carefully in order to lead the team successfully.

"I think, when it comes to Gautam Gambhir, you got to cut him some slack a little bit because I think he has come in at a very tough time. Post a successful regime of Rahul Dravid, it’s never easy to fill those shoes," Karthik said while speaking on Cricbuzz.

It is important to mention that Gambhir has never lost a T20I series. On the other hand, the outcomes in ODIs and Tests have been quite disappointing.

“He has found success, an immense success in T20 cricket, where he’s had a lot of young boys. He’s been able to have, I would dare say, a massive influence over them. But in Tests, he has had the going very hard," Karthik said.

“Yes, the Bangladesh series was a success and I think post that, things have just gone downhill for him. He wants them (Kohli and Rohit) to decide as to what they feel is best. I think the biggest decision for him to make is, is he very, very happy with his current set of players," Karthik added.

On Saturday, January 11, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) conducted a comprehensive review of India's difficult tour of Australia. The discussion, which lasted more than two hours, included Rohit Sharma, India's Test and ODI captain, and Gautam Gambhir, the head coach. Despite the unsatisfactory results, the Board elected to take a deliberate approach rather than reacting quickly to a succession of difficulties, the majority of which were caused by senior players' poor performance.

The meeting was conducted at a posh facility in Mumbai, and was attended by BCCI President Roger Binny, Secretary-elect Devajit Saikia, Rohit and Gambhir.

"There was a detailed discussion on the Border Gavaskar Trophy performance and what all went wrong and the course correction required. But do not expect a hurried decision from the new dispensation of BCCI," a source privy to developments in the Board told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

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