India pacer Harshit Rana has come to the defense of Gautam Gambhir against all the heaps of criticism heaped upon the former by several critics. Gambhir is at present undergoing severe flak for the dismal performance of the Indian Test side, which lost the series 1-3 against Australia recently. Reason for fans and former cricketers venting their ire against players and management has been brought on by India’s failure in the past decade to retain BGT for the first time during a losing season. Harshit Rana, who was with Gambhir during their association at the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), lent his support to this mentor.
“Criticising someone due to personal insecurities is not good. Gauti bhaiya is someone who thinks more for others than himself. He always backs players when they are down and puts them in the limelight when things go our way. He has shown this on multiple occasions. He has a lot of knowledge on how to turn games in your favour,” wrote Harshit on his Instagram story while sharing an image of Gambhir.
Earlier, former KKR player Nitish Rana had also extended support. “Criticism should be based on facts, not personal insecurities. Gauti Bhaiyya is one of the most selfless players I’ve ever met. He shoulders responsibility in times of distress like no other. Performance doesn’t need any PR. The trophies speak for themselves,” Nitish wrote on X.
After the barren tour of Sri Lanka, Gambhir was handed over the reins of the team to improve the performance in the other formats of the game. While India was at the top in the T20I segment, things were not so rosy in the ODIs for them.
After the first ODI ended in a thrilling tie, India lost the next two matches to suffer its first-ever bilateral series defeat in the format against Sri Lanka in 27 years.
So, after the ODI series, Bangladesh toured India for two tests and three T20 internationals. India clean-swept the series, though memories of defeat in the ODI series have faded.
The road to the final of the World Test Championship was almost clear. New Zealand toured India for three Tests, and those three tests would decide the fate of the WTC final.
India, as clear and undisputed favorites on paper, found a very different line of attack from New Zealand. In a display of the standards that the Kiwis set, they took India by surprise and walked away with yet another piece of history by winning the series outright 3-0.
Now that they have suffered the first home whitewash in Test format, India is trying again with a comeback by defending the BGT in Australia. But that too failed.
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