Ravi Shastri says- Responsibility of defeat not only of coach:’Players should take responsibility’, questions raised over Gambhir following India’s 0-2 Test series loss

After the Indian cricket team’s consecutive two home Test series clean sweep losses, questions are being raised about head coach Gautam Gambhir. The team had a good start by winning the Champions Trophy and Asia Cup, but its performance in red-ball cricket has declined. On this issue, former head coach Ravi Shastri said that it is not fair to place the responsibility for the loss solely on the coach; players also need to step up. Shastri says, ‘It’s wrong to target just one person’ In a newspaper’s YouTube podcast, Shastri said, “So when results come, one thing the public should remember is that players should also take responsibility. It should not be that you target one individual. It has happened to me, that is why I am speaking from experience. So it is important that the players also take the rap on the knuckles when something like this happens. There should be pride. They should feel hurt that we have lost. Until that happens, things will not move forward.”

He said that cricket is 90% a mental game and the team should be mentally strong. Patience and communication are also essential in coaching, along with strategy Shastri further said that coaching is not limited to strategy alone. In coaching, patience, communication, and man-management are most important. According to him, only if one knows how to talk to players correctly, can one motivate them. There will always be pressure on the head coach, so balance is essential. He also said that a team’s defeat is always collective. From team management to players, everyone is responsible. Old dispute between Gambhir-Shastri also in discussion Gautam Gambhir has criticised Shastri on several occasions before. In an interview given to a news channel in 2021, Gambhir expressed displeasure over Shastri’s statement, in which he called the Virat Kohli-led team ‘the best Test team in the world’. Shastri had compared the 1983 World Cup victory to the Test series win in Australia, which Gambhir questioned.