EXPRESS EXCLUSIVE: Gautam Gambhir cracks whip on Team India’s chaotic dressing room: ‘Bahut ho gaya’ | Cricket News

SHORTLY AFTER India lost seven wickets in 20.4 overs and handed the Melbourne Test to Australia, head coach Gautam Gambhir had some stern words for the entire squad in the dressing room on Monday. “Bahut ho gaya (I’ve had enough),” the former India opener is learnt to have said, not holding back in his assessment of the team.Though Gambhir didn’t take names, the g of his speech was about how the players were doing their own thing in the name of “natural game”, instead of playing according to the situation.
Gambhir, who took over as coach on July 9, is learnt to have talked about how he had let the team do what it wanted for the “last six months” but would now “decide” how they would play. In a veiled warning to players to toe the line, he is learnt to have said that going ahead, those who don’t abide his pre-decided team strategy would be given a “thank you”.
With the team trailing 1-2 in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy and qualification for the World Test Championship final looking tough, Gambhir has drawn the line. Clearly, he has had enough.
Sources said Gambhir addressed the conflict between intent and team interest. He told the players that instead of executing the “plans discussed”, they were doing their own thing. He discussed how the batters had been underperforming for a while now, since the home series against Bangladesh in September.
Virat Kohli went chasing a wide ball in the last over before lunch on the final day of the Melbourne Test, putting the team on the back foot. Rishabh Pant was dismissed playing a lap shot off a pacer in the first innings and pulling a short ball from part-time spinner Travis Head down the throat of long-on in the second, to trigger a stunning collapse. Captain Rohit Sharma, struggling for touch and form, fell playing an across-the-line shot in the second innings. And Yashasvi Jaiswal went for a pull shot despite the field set for it late in the evening, finally sinking Team India at Melbourne.
Multiple sources in Indian cricket have said the atmosphere in the dressing room is far from ideal. There has been some tension in the camp for a while now, in fact, since before the first Test in Australia. It’s learnt that Gambhir had pressed for the inclusion of Cheteshwar Pujara, the out-of-favour Test special with 100 matches behind him, but the selectors shot it down. Even after the Perth Test that India won, Gambhir was still talking about Pujara, it’s learnt.
When a team is in a transitional phase, as Team India is at the moment, the rising ambitions and aspirations of individuals can often be a handicap for the squad. It didn’t help that Rohit, the designated captain, wasn’t there for the early part of the tour, only landing in the middle of the first Test. then, it’s learnt, there were at least a couple of players — all nursing captaincy ambitions — who were openly claiming that it would be up to them for India to do something special on this tour. It is believed that Rohit may take a call about his future after the current tour.
A senior player has been taking a rather active interest in portraying himself as “Mr Fix-It”. Those in the know say he isn’t convinced that the young guns are ready to take over leadership roles, and is ready to project himself as an interim option.
While there may not be an open rift, the chaotic incohesiveness in the unit cannot be denied. Also, there has been a centralisation in decision-making. It is learnt that when Gambhir made the move to bring in Harshit Rana and Washington Sundar for the first Test, it wasn’t a unanimous decision. These selections may have been questioned, but haven’t really misfired. There have been slip-ups too, as evidenced in the non-selection of Akash Deep for the pink-ball Test. He was not only more suited, but Rana’s fitness for long spells has also been a concern.
It hasn’t helped that Rohit has been struggling for form. He is a captain who usually spends hours on pre-game planning, chatting with bowling and batting groups, and with individuals, but hasn’t been able to extend himself in that manner on this tour, it’s learnt. This is the person who took time out after the toss at a T20 World Cup final to explain to Sanju Samson why he wasn’t picked. That gracious act had stunned the player himself. Until this series, Rohit had been putting himself out there for others.
There are also whispers around the Indian tour party about the locus standi of the support staff that Gambhir has hand-picked. During the tour, Indian cricket’s leading voice, Sunil Gavaskar, has raised this issue publicly.
“For batting… What is the role of Abhishek Nayar in the team? Is he a batting coach or an assant coach? Gambhir has scored a lot more runs, so if he can step in and guide the players on how to bat and what approach is to be taken, we can probably perform better,” he had said.
Gavaskar’s observation about Nayar can be used for a few others in the backroom.
Ravichandran Ashwin’s decision to leave the tour midway also says much. His father made an emotional statement that his son may have quit because of “humiliation”. While Ashwin later tried to play this down, it has added to the intrigue.
The team reaching the final Test in Sydney with a chance of retaining the trophy — in case of a 2-2 draw, India, as the winner of the last series, will retain the silverware — has a lot to do with individual brilliance and an underlying desire to do well. It does suggest that this isn’t a team with rifts, but a team capable of self-expressing their skills – and self-destructing too.

Perhaps, in the here and now, the tough line that Gambhir has adopted can work in cutting down egos and regathering focus, but that’s not a long-term solution. Successful democratic sporting systems don’t run on fear and coercion. A tough hand may be the need of the hour, but after the dust settles on this tour, a balanced and harmonising plan is needed.

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