“In good teams, coaches hold players accountable. In great teams, players hold players accountable.” This is what Roy Keane had posted a few days ago on his Instagram handle. Apologies for drawing a football analogy in a cricket piece, but the legendary former Manchester United captain’s words ring true in every sport.
At the moment, there’s a lot of anger among the fans after India’s 3-0 home series whitewash against New Zealand. And a lot of it has been directed at the Indian team’s head coach Gautam Gambhir. Social media at its worst can be a cesspit and a big chunk of the keyboard warriors are seemingly on an overdrive. Those who aren’t accusing Gambhir are targeting Rohit Sharma.
On Friday, the BCCI held a review meeting of the series defeat and rumours like separate coaches across formats have added fuel to the fire. Good that former India opener Aakash Chopra has instantly shot it down.
“I feel it is an absolute rumour,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel. “This news seems absolutely baseless that if Team India doesn’t perform well in (the) Border-Gavaskar Trophy, then change the coach. Have different coaches for different formats. I would say it’s a little too soon. I see this rumour being floated around with malicious intent.”
Gambhir is only three months into the job. Yes, India have lost the ODI series in Sri Lanka followed by the shock home series defeat against the Kiwis under his charge. But even in the cut-throat world of European football, managers don’t get fired after just three months. Also, it’s preposterous to single out Gambhir, or Rohit for the defeat against New Zealand. It was a collective failure, like India winning the T20 World Cup was a result of collective effort.
True that the Indian team management made several mistakes during the New Zealand series. Opting to play on turners in Pune and Mumbai, especially in Mumbai, topped the list. India have a bowling attack good enough to take 20 opposition wickets on good pitches. They showed it in the five-Test series against England earlier this year, with the hosts winning 4-1. Preparing Bunsens against New Zealand narrowed the gap between the two sides. It is learnt that the team management was asked about this at the review meeting. But never did the BCCI hierarchy single out the coach or captain. It was a team decision to play on such surfaces.
India have lost the first Test of a home series in the past, the latest being against England in Hyderabad. But every time they bounced back to have the last laugh. This time it didn’t happen, and both team management and the BCCI were surprised that the side failed to show resolve. Yet again, though, it was a collective failure. The coach and the captain were very rightly told by the BCCI top brass and chief selector Ajit Agarkar to forget about the New Zealand series and focus on the five-Test tour of Australia.
India won the T20 World Cup because almost every member of the team, including the coaching staff, contributed to the success. India lost against New Zealand because the batters failed, the spinners were out-bowled by their Kiwis counterparts and the planning was not up to scratch.
Team sport is about winning as a team and losing as a team. Singling out individuals leaves a bad taste. The group now will have to stick together to initiate a turnaround in Australia.