Former India National Cricket Team player Aakash Chopra came up with a bold statement for Gautam Gambhir and his coaching staff. He said that the head coach and his staff cannot be blamed for Virat Kohli’s mode of dismissals.
India National Cricket Team head coach Gautam Gambhir came under massive scanner after the team’s poor outing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. The coach, along with the staff, was criticized, especially after the failures of batters in the series.
Gautam Gambhir was criticized for the failures of Virat Kohli
With senior batter Virat Kohli along with others struggling to get going, various experts in Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar, and others criticized Gautam Gambhir. They were of the opinion, that the head coach and staff are doing nothing to improve the batters.
Aakash Chopra pointed out comments of Sanjay Manjrekar and Sunil Gavaskar, saying that Virat Kohli has been struggling with this line, saying that one cannot say that batter got out because Gautam Gambhir didn’t resolve the issues.
You cannot say that Virat Kohli got out because Gautam Gambhir didn’t resolve his issues – Aakash Chopra
Speaking in a video posted on his YouTube channel, he explained:
“Sunny bhai (Sunil Gavaskar) and Sanjay bhai (Manjrekar) both said that Virat Kohli’s issues outside the off-stump are chronic problems. They said it should be solved and asked what Abhishek Nayar and Gautam Gambhir were doing as part of the coaching staff.
“When you have used the word chronic or you are seeing a problem that doesn’t exist only today in isolation, which was probably there earlier, went missing for some time, and has returned, can you blame the coaching department that has been there with this team for only the last six months? You cannot say that Virat Kohli got out because Gautam didn’t resolve his issues.”
If it’s a chronic problem – Aakash Chopra on Virat Kohli’s struggled
Aakash Chopra further stated that Virat Kohli getting out to balls outside off is a chronic problem that even the last coaching staff wasn’t able to correct. He pointed out that Gambhir shouldn’t be the one to be slammed as questions should be asked about previous coaching setup as well. He added:
“If it’s a chronic problem like someone stays committed on the front foot or someone’s reflexes are getting slower, it wouldn’t have happened in six months. So if you have to point your guns and fire, you have to look towards the last coaching staff as well, which no one is talking about,”
“I heard someone saying – ‘I am done talking about these players. I want accountability from the coaching staff because these are chronic problems.’ I would say, then ask for it not from this coaching staff but the previous one because that coaching staff remained for long and they had an opportunity to correct these shortcomings.”
Virat Kohli, who slammed a century in Perth, failed in the last 4 games of the series. He got out in a similar fashion to the balls outside off and it saw many lashing out at him.
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