Gambhir once again called out the batters-dominated pitches served for white-ball matches in India.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir has strongly defended his bowling unit, warning that "bowlers' careers are at stake" on extremely flat pitches after the West Indies pulled off a record chase in the second T20I at JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi on Friday (October 9).
For the second time in less than two weeks, Gambhir expressed deep frustration over batter-friendly wickets, questioning the lack of parity in white-ball cricket.
India lost the Ranchi T20I despite posting a massive total of 249/5 on the board, powered by Sanju Samson's blistering 82 off 41 balls and quickfire 40+ scores from Tilak Varma (44* off 18), Ishan Kishan (43 off 22) and Shreyas Iyer (40 off 18).
In reply, West Indies captain Shai Hope slammed a 45-ball century, and Sherfane Rutherford smashed an explosive 84 off 37 balls, allowing the visitors to comfortably overhaul the target with 6 wickets and 9 deliveries to spare.
“Who doesn't want a good competition between bat and ball? Of course. What you want, we also want. If you only want to see sixes and fours, we want to see that too. If you want an even contest, then we also want an even contest, because bowlers are our bowlers too, right?”
"They aren't foreign bowlers; their careers are also at stake. They also worked hard to sit in this dressing room; it's not like they didn't work hard. They have also worked hard. So if there is an even competition, it will be good, and better cricket will be seen," Gambhir said at the post-match press conference.
The Indian coach had raised similar concerns after the Shubman Gill-led ODI side had pulled off a staggering 406-run chase against the West Indies in Guwahati.
Despite a flat track and heavy dew making it nearly impossible for spinners and pacers alike to control the ball, Gambhir stated that a world-champion side must find ways to defend big targets and cannot hide behind losing the toss.
“We are a world-champion team, so we want to keep improving. And obviously, these are tough conditions to bowl; we know that obviously, flat wickets, with the dew, obviously it's tough, but we need to figure out a way to try and stop the opposition, especially when they lost two wickets in the first over, and three in the first six,” he stated.
Gambhir acknowledged West Indies captain Hope as a world-class batter, applauding how he and Rutherford perfectly structured the 250-run chase despite speedster Mayank Yadav taking three powerplay wickets for India.
“Obviously, it was tough. But again, credit to West Indies, the way Shai Hope batted. We know that they are world-class batters, especially in this format, so obviously it was tough. But we're going to keep improving. The bottom line is that we could not defend 250. They batted extremely well. They deserved to win, and we still have a lot of work to do. When you're playing against dangerous teams like the West Indies, we need to figure out how to defend, especially when you lose the toss," he remarked.