Sourav Ganguly, ex-BCCI chief, has supported India coach Gautam Gambhir who was slammed for his straight responses in reaction to Ricky Ponting, who criticized the form of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma ahead of the BGT 2024 Test series.

Before India departed for Australia, Gambhir was asked to comment on Australia great Ricky Ponting's assessment of Virat Kohli's lackluster play at a press conference.  

Few in the cricket community took exception to the Indian head coach's support of his player and advice to Ponting to concentrate on the Australian squad. Ponting even referred to Gambhir as a prickly guy in his response to the comment.

In reaction to the same, Ganguly said everyone was going gaga over him when he did the same straight talk in IPL, where he mentored KKR to the title win this year.

“All I will say is let him be. I saw some criticism of what he said in the press conference. It is the way he is. Let him be. When he won the IPL, he was the same, you were going gaga over him. Just because he has lost three test matches and a one-day series against Sri Lanka, the straight talk has not been looked at nicely. But that is the way he is,” Ganguly told RevSportz.

Ganguly also stated that Australians have the habit of using words to put pressure on opposition players and there was nothing wrong with how Gambhir responded to Ponting.

“And why not? Australians, from the time I have watched cricket, they have been tough for you. They have played their cricket that way, whether it was Waugh, Ponting, or Hayden. So, there is nothing wrong with what Gambhir has said. That is the way he is and he fights, he competes so let us give him a chance. It has just been two or three months and you are passing judgement on him,” he added.

The first Test of the five-match BGT 2024 series begins in Perth on November 22.