India lost the second Test by 408 runs to South Africa in Guwahati.
He stated twice in his post-series press conference that the club didn't need "flamboyant players" and that players who "didn't have a plan B" and were insistent about their style of play were to blame for the failures.
He didn't mention specific players, but during the Guwahati Test, other squad members received harsh criticism for the same offense. In the first innings, when India was 105/4, stand-in skipper Rishabh Pant edged a crazy slog; in the same essay, Dhruv Jurel attempted a foolish pull shot against Marco Jansen to get out for 0 (11).
“Start prioritizing Test cricket if we are really serious about it. Everyone needs to be a stakeholder. If we want Test cricket to flourish in India, we need a collective effort. Just blaming players or support staff won’t help. And as I said, we can’t put things under the carpet. Come white-ball formats, if you get runs there and suddenly forget what you did in red-ball cricket, that should never happen," Gambhir said during the post-match press conference.
“Red-ball cricket requires different skills. And more importantly, it needs tough characters. You don’t need the most skillful or flamboyant players; you need tough characters with limited skills who succeed regardless of conditions,” he added.
When asked if India's frequent failures during the Gambhir era were caused by technical or mental problems, Gambhir responded that it was the former since some players were unable to handle the circumstances.
“It comes from care—how much you care about the dressing room and the team. Accountability and game situation cannot be taught. Yes, you can talk about skills, work on skills, and discuss the mental aspect—but when you go in, you must put the team ahead of yourself. If someone thinks, "This is how I play; I don’t have a plan B," then you will get these kinds of collapses.
Accountability is important—but more than that, it’s care. How much do you care about Indian cricket and the people in the dressing room? From 95 for 1 to 120 for 7—that’s not technical. It’s mental. It’s about how much Test cricket means to all of us. We need to keep thinking about what needs to be done and where we can get better. Individually and collectively,” Gambhir stated.
(PTI inputs)