‘He will soon learn’, Ravi Shastri helps on Gautam Gambhir’s rescue amidst criticism for Series defeat to New Zealand

India’s well-known star coach Gautam Gambhir found himself in a heated situation after the team India suffered a series defeat to New Zealand.

New Delhi: India’s well-known star coach Gautam Gambhir found himself in a heated situation after the team India suffered a series defeat to New Zealand, their first loss at home since 2012. India were hot favourites to win the series but were completely outplayed. As the fans expected a good outcome from Gautam Gambhir, criticism was bound to come Gambhir’s way given how comprehensively India lost the series to New Zealand.

Coming to the point, former India coach Ravi Shastri came out to help Gambhir following the defeat in the second Test. Shastri said it’s never easy being a coach of a team with a massive fan following, adding that Gambhir is a new coach and will learn with time.

“New Zealand have beaten them (India) handsomely in both the Test matches. It’s food for thought,” Stastri said on Jio Cinema.

“He (Gambhir) has just taken over the job. It’s never easy being the coach of a team that has such a big following. It’s still early days in his career as a coach. But he’ll soon learn,” he added.

The Indian captain lamented the lack of runs put on the board, he believes the loss in Pune and during the ongoing series is a collective failure.

“It’s a collective failure. I’m not somebody who would blame just the batters or the bowlers,” Rohit said in the post-match presentation.

Talking about the match, after losing the toss and being put to bowl first, The Rohit Sharma-led side was restricted to a mere 156 runs in response to New Zealand’s 259. Carrying a 103-run lead, New Zealand put together 255 runs in the second innings and were able to stop India for 245 on Day 3.

“Didn’t think we batted well enough to get runs on the board. You’ve got to pick 20 wickets to win, yes, but batters have to put runs on the board. Was a great fightback to restrict them to 250-odd but we knew it was going to be challenging,” Rohit said.

“When they started off, they were 200/3 and for us to come back and get them bowled out for 259 was a great effort. Wasn’t a pitch where a lot was happening. We just didn’t bat well enough,” he added.

When the Indian skipper was asked on his expectations were from the remaining Test in the series before India tours Australia for a five Test, Rohit Sharma said, “We want to show up well at Wankhede (Stadium) and try and win that Test. We will come out with better intent, better ideas and better methods.”