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‘Everyone says Gambhir, Gambhir’: India explode over ‘agenda-driven’ blame after pitch disaster
India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, visibly frustrated, said the criticism aimed at Gautam Gambhir felt like it was driven by people with vested interests.
The Indian camp finally broke its silence on the heavy criticism aimed at head coach Gautam Gambhir after the defeat to South Africa in the opening Test. Speaking to the press ahead of the second and final match of the series, batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, visibly frustrated, said the backlash felt like it was driven by people with vested interests.
India lost by 30 runs in Kolkata after being folded for just 93 runs in their chase of 124. It was India's fourth loss at home under Gambhir's tenure, coming exactly a year after the team's forgettable 0-3 whitewash against New Zealand.
"'Gautam Gambhir, Gautam Gambhir' (criticism) is being done. I am saying this because I am a staff and I feel bad. That's not the way," Kotak said. "Maybe some people individually have agendas. Good luck to them, but it is very bad."
What surprised Kotak was that people did not question anyone other than Gambhir.
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"No one is saying that this batsman did this, this bowler did that, or we can do something different in batting," Kotak said referring to the batting collapse that led to the rather embarrassing loss.
Besides the defeat, Gambhir drew flak after admitting that it was the management's choice to pick a turner for the Kolkata Test. While India reckoned it would benefit their troika of spinners - Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja - South Africa's Simon Harmer stole the show with his eight-wicket match haul. However, Kotak revealed that Gambhir made the statement only to protect the curator.
“At the press conference after the last match, Gautam (Gambhir) took all the blame on himself. He did that because he felt the blame should not fall on the curator,” he said. “But genuinely, you can ask any curator, we have never asked for a [pitch where] the match is over in two days or a square turner."
The veteran Saurashtra batter also opened up on the "demonic" Eden Gardens track, saying that even the curator never intended to produce a surface that would yield 39 wickets in just three days.
“After the first day itself [in Kolkata], it felt like it had begun to crumble. The soil was coming off a bit. All of you could see that, but that was unexpected. Even if spin was expected, it was only after three days or on the third evening. Even the curators did not want it. I am telling you the truth. No one wanted it to be like this.”
