Coach Gambhir breaks silence on one of India's darkest Test chapters, says 'we need to keep reminding...'
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Coach Gambhir breaks silence on one of India's darkest Test chapters, says 'we need to keep reminding...'")
India coach Gambhir breaks silence on one of country's darkest Test chapters Photograph: (AFP)
The series loss to New Zealand was the beginning of the end of India’s chances of securing a spot in its third successive WTC Final, with Australia and South Africa advancing through.
Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir still cannot come to terms with one of the darkest chapters in the country’s Test history. Currently on a winning spree across formats, Gambhir once endured a painful home series loss as a coach to New Zealand late last year, in which the Kiwis inflicted a series whitewash on Rohit Sharma’s team – a first of its kind in Indian Test history. That series loss was the beginning of the end of India’s chances of securing a spot in its third successive WTC Final, with Australia and South Africa advancing through.
Meanwhile, speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing second Test against the West Indies at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, Gambhir detailed his feelings about that series loss as a coach and what changed in the Indian dressing room after that episode.
“If I am being honest, and speak from the heart, I don’t think that in my coaching tenure, I can ever forget that, and I should never forget that,” Gambhir said in a chat with JioHotstar.“I have told this to the boys as well. It is important to look forward, but sometimes it is also important to remember the past as well. Everyone thought we would roll over New Zealand. In that dressing room, we need to keep reminding that New Zealand happened.”
The damage that the series loss did to India was unmatchable. For an outfit like that to lose a home three-match Test series when they hardly lost matches in these conditions in over a decade was a hard pill to swallow. The series loss cost Rohit Sharma his place in the Test team, also crumbling Virat Kohli’s confidence, which later led to the pair announcing their respective Test retirements around six months later. Test ace Ravichandran Ashwin also stepped aside from international cricket.
Meanwhile, after failing to qualify for the WTC Final 2025, Team India made wholesome changes to their Test side by announcing a new captain in Shubman Gill and introducing newcomers to play crucial roles. While Team India drew (2-2) the five-match series under Gill’s leadership earlier, they are on the brink of blanking West Indies in the two-match Test series, with India sitting in the driver’s seat early on day three.
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
