Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Former Indian national cricket team player Aakash Chopra made a bold statement for Gautam Gambhir and his coaching staff. He said that the head coach and his staff cannot be blamed for the manner of Virat Kohli’s dismissals.
Indian national cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir has come under massive scrutiny following the team’s poor run in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The coach, along with the staff, was criticized, especially after the failures of the batsmen in the series.
Gautam Gambhir was criticized for Virat Kohli’s failures
With senior batsman Virat Kohli along with others struggling to get going, various pundits on Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar and others slammed Gautam Gambhir. They felt that the coach and staff are not doing anything to improve the hitters.
Aakash Chopra pointed to the comments of Sanjay Manjrekar and Sunil Gavaskar, saying that Virat Kohli has been struggling with this line, saying that it cannot be said that the batsman got out because Gautam Gambhir did not solve the problems.
You can’t say Virat Kohli got out because Gautam Gambhir didn’t solve his problems – Aakash Chopra
In a video posted on his YouTube channel, he explained:
“Sunny bhai (Sunil Gavaskar) and Sanjay bhai (Manjrekar) said that Virat Kohli’s off-stump problems are chronic problems. They said it needs to be resolved and asked what Abhishek Nayar and Gautam Gambhir were doing as part of the technical team.
“When you’ve used the word chronic or you see a problem that doesn’t just exist today in isolation, that was probably there before, went away for a while and came back, can you blame the coaching department for being there? With this team just for the last six months. You can’t say Virat Kohli got out because Gautam didn’t solve his problems.”
If it is a chronic problem – Aakash Chopra to Virat Kohli struggled
Aakash Chopra further claimed that Virat Kohli getting out to balls outside is a chronic problem that even the latest coaching staff could not correct. He pointed out that Gambhir should not be the one to be criticized as questions should also be asked about the pre-training set-up. He added:
“If it’s a chronic problem like someone staying engaged on the front foot or someone’s reflexes being slowed down, it wouldn’t have happened in six months. So if you have to point guns and shoot, you have to look towards the last training also the staff, which no one talks about”.
“I heard someone say: ‘I’m done talking about these players. I want responsibility from the coaching staff because they are chronic problems.’ he stayed a long time and had the opportunity to correct those shortcomings.”
Virat Kohli who hit a century in Perth failed in the last 4 matches of the series. He came out in a similar manner to outside balls and saw that many were attacking him.
Read also: Shaun Pollock leaks major ICC rule change to benefit bowlers in big calls
