India head coach Gautam Gambhir has refused to only blame the batters for the side being 0-2 behind in the three-Test series against New Zealand. He stated that everyone has responsibility for India losing the Test series.
India suffered their first Test series defeat at home in 12 years, losing the second Test by 113 runs in Pune on October 26. The hosts lost the opening Test by eight wickets in Bengaluru. In three of the four innings, the team totals were 46, 156, and 245 with batters battling with both swing and spin.
"Everyone has the responsibility, I cannot say just the batters have let us down," Gambhir said at the press conference ahead of the third Test in Mumbai from Friday.
He also ruled out bringing new players for the final Test.
"We are not in a situation where can think of that. Harshit Rana is not part of the squad. He has just come here to prepare for the Australia tour, Abhishek made it clear yesterday. IPL retention has nothing to be spoken about, we have a Test match here. Everyone is available for selection, we will take a call tomorrow,” Gambhir rejected reports of Harshit Rana debuting for India.
Gambhir admitted that the Test series defeat hurt the team but said it should spur the team to do better in the future.
"I am not going to sugarcoat that it is hurting. It should hurt and that will make us better. What is wrong with being in this position? I am sure this will push the youngsters to be better cricketers. If we have results like Kanpur, might as well have results like this and keep moving forward," said Gambhir.
He stated that batters should be able to adjust to the game's events and execute properly.
"Test cricket should be played like Test cricket. If we have to get 400 runs inside a day’s play we should be able to get it. For me, it is about playing the sessions as well. If we play 4.5 sessions we will have a lot of runs on board. A complete cricketer can adapt successfully. Not just being able to hit the stands but also rotate strike successfully," he said.
Talking about the defensive technique of batters being impacted by T20 cricket, Gambhir said, "The more the T20 cricket is played, the more the people will struggle in defending. But the most successful players irrespective of the formats always had strong defence. We need to keep telling people the importance of defense and we are working hard on it and we will see results in the future."
Gambhir also talked about reports of the Wankhede Stadium pitch for the third Test being a rank turner.
He said: "It is just a good wicket. Very difficult for anyone to judge before both teams have batted on it."
Gautam Gambhir takes over as Team India's head coach for the three T20I and three-ODI trips to Sri Lanka. India swept Sri Lanka in the T20Is but lost the ODI series 0-3 to the hosts. It was an unexpected loss for India, who had not lost an ODI series against Sri Lanka in 27 years.
Now, the Men in Blue have suffered a rare Test series defeat at home to the Kiwis. India had not lost a home Test series in the previous 12 years, but that streak was finally broken here.
On his journey at the helm of affairs so far, Gambhir said, "I never expected a very easy run for me. I know that we lost in Sri Lanka and against NZ and it is not a good place to be. All we can do is keep working hard and we will try to win every game that we play to represent the country. I realize its a completely different thing when you were playing and now as a coach, need to put your arm around the players."
(PTI inputs)
