Arshdeep Singh is the first Indian to 100 T20I wickets; Kuldeep Yadav starred in India's Asia Cup win.
However, these two frequently end up on the wrong side of the stick since they are frequently benched, particularly in the shortest format. Gautam Gambhir, the head coach of India, has now spoken out about dropping these two and the kinds of talks he has been having with them.
This year, Arshdeep only participated in two Asia Cup 2025 matches and did not even start the T20I series against Australia. In a similar vein, Kuldeep was sent home to get ready for the next Test series against South Africa after being left out of the starting lineup for the 3rd T20I in Australia.
Gambhir talked candidly about making the difficult decision to exclude guys like Arshdeep and Kuldeep. Nonetheless, he claimed that both players are aware of the circumstances because the support staff has had open and sincere discussions with them.
“That's probably the toughest part of me as a coach. I think that's the toughest job I have, that sometimes when I know that there is so much quality sitting on the bench and I know everyone deserves to be part of the playing XI, but ultimately you can only pick XI thinking about which is the best combination to do the job on that particular day,” Gambhir said in an interview with BCCI.TV.
“But for me, the most important thing is the conversation and the communication as well. So the communication needs to be very clear and very honest; sometimes, obviously, those are hard conversations to have. If you tell someone that he's not playing, this is probably the toughest conversation for a coach and a player as well, because I know that the player would get upset when he deserves to be part of the playing XI,” he added.
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Additionally, Gambhir said that he is still focused on having a healthy dressing room and that, in order to achieve this, heart-to-heart talks must take place whenever a player is left out, particularly when they should be in the starting lineup.
“If you're honest, if you're straightforward, if you know that what you're saying is saying it from the heart and there is nothing beyond that, then I feel that our players do understand that. And it's a communication between a player and a coach, and I think it should stay till then rather than people making a lot of hue and cry and different theories about it,” said Gambhir.
“That is something which I think this group and the support staff have done brilliantly because I think it has been a very transparent dressing room, it has been a very honest dressing room, and that is something like how we want this dressing room to be,” he added.
Gautam Gambhir’s next assignment will be hosting South Africa at home for two Tests, three ODIs, and five T20Is. The Test series begins on November 14 in Kolkata, and the second match will be played in Guwahati from November 22.