Former Indian national cricket team player Aakash Chopra has come 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 the manner of Virat Kohli's dismissal.
Indian national cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir has come under massive scrutiny after the team's poor outing in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The coach, along with the staff, was criticized, especially after the failures of the batters in the series.
Gautam Gambhir has been 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 have criticized Gautam Gambhir. They were of the opinion that the head coach and staff are not doing anything to improve the batsmen.
Aakash Chopra pointed to the comments of Sanjay Manjrekar and Sunil Gavaskar, saying that Virat Kohli struggled with this line, saying that it cannot be said that the batter came out because Gautam Gambhir did not solve the problems.
You can't say Virat Kohli is out because Gautam Gambhir didn't solve his problems – 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 off-stump problems are chronic problems. They said it should be resolved and asked what Abhishek Nayar and Gautam Gambhir were doing as part of the coaching staff. .
“When you use the word chronic or you see a problem that's not just there today in isolation, that was probably there earlier, went away for a while and came back, you can blame the coaching department that was there with this team just in the last six months You can't say Virat Kohli is out because Gautam hasn't sorted out his issues.”
If it's a chronic problem – Aakash Chopra on Virat Kohli struggled
Aakash Chopra also said that Virat Kohli's off-field balls are a chronic problem that even the last coaching staff has not been able to correct. He pointed out that Gambhir should not be criticized as questions should also be asked about the previous training set-up. He added:
“If it's a chronic problem, like someone getting stuck on their front leg or someone's reflexes getting slower, it wouldn't have happened in six months. So if you have to point guns and shoot, you have to you look at the last training as well, which no one talks about.”
“I heard someone say, 'I'm done talking about these players.' I want accountability from the coaching staff because these are chronic problems.” I would say, then ask it not from this coaching staff, but from the previous one because that coaching staff stayed for a long time and they had the opportunity to correct those shortcomings.”
Virat Kohli, who scored a century in Perth, failed in the last 4 games of the series. He came out in a similar fashion to the outside balls and saw many attacking him.
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