Gautam Gambhir takes a dig at Virat Kohli: Reacting to everything doesn't mean you are more passionate

Virat Kohli's leadership is once again under the scanner after India's back-to-back defeats in their first two matches of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021. India lost their opening clash against arch-rivals Pakistan by ten wickets before succumbing to another shambolic eight-wicket defeat against New Zealand in Dubai on Sunday (October 31).

Kohli has already announced his decision to step down as the T20I captain of Team India post the T20 World Cup 2021. In what is going to be his final T20 tournament as the captain of the team, India have had a disastrous campaign so far and are on the brink of facing an early exit from the tournament after two losses in a row.

Former Indian opener has taken a dig at Kohli's captaincy and said showing emotions on the field, and reacting to everything doesn't mean someone is more passionate than others. Gambhir took a dig at Kohli's aggressive approach on the field and said sometimes calmness can be equally effective in a pressure situation.

"New Zealand was exactly in the same position as India today. So they had an equal amount of pressure. I mean, it starts with the leader as well. [For New Zealand] it starts with Kane, the calmness," Gambhir said on ESPNCricinfo.

"You don't have to be on the face all the time. You don't have to show your emotions [always], sometimes just your positivity and calmness can be equally positive [for] the group as well. Just by reacting to everything doesn't mean that you are more passionate than someone else," he added.

Also Read: 54 dot balls, 71 deliveries without a boundary: Shocking stats & numbers from India's loss vs NZ

Asked to bat first in the all-important encounter against New Zealand, Indian batting line-up crumbled under pressure after a stuttering start. The move to let Ishan Kishan open the batting with KL Rahul and demote Rohit Sharma to number three backfired as Kishan was dismissed after scoring just 3 runs off 8 balls.

Rahul (18) and Rohit (14) too departed in quick succession while captain Kohli (9) struggled once again. It was crucial cameos from Hardik Pandya (23) and Ravindra Jadeja (26) that somehow helped India cross the 100-run mark and post 110 runs on the board in 20 overs.

New Zealand chased down the target of 111 runs with ease riding on Daryl Mitchell's 49 and captain Kane Willaimson's unbeaten 33. India have three games remaining in the Super 12 and have very bleak chance of making it to the top four after two consecutive losses.