Rohit Sharma Gautam Gambhir Ajit Agarkar Bcci AFP MeetingImage credit source: AFP
The Board of Control for Cricket in India, extremely upset by the embarrassing 0-3 defeat in the home Test series against New Zealand, has finally given a tough lesson to the Indian team management. Recently, Team India failed to win a single Test against the New Zealand team and for the first time in its 92-year history, lost every match in the Test series at home. Five days after this defeat, captain Rohit Sharma, coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar appeared before chairman Roger Binny and secretary Jai Shah, where the reasons for the defeat were discussed and He asked them for answers on the 3 most important questions.
Meeting with BCCI for 6 hours
Team India was annihilated with a defeat in the third Test played in Mumbai in 3 days. Only later did news arrive that the board would question the coach and captain about this shocking performance. This meeting also took place on Friday, November 8, in which apart from Gambhir and Rohit, selection committee head Agarkar was also present. News agency PTI quoted board sources as saying that this review meeting held at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai lasted six hours and in which coach Gambhir participated through video conferencing.
Find answers to these questions
It is stated in the PTI report that in this meeting clarifications were requested on some decisions that were taken by the team management throughout the series. There was a lot of discussion on three important issues, one of which was the Mumbai Test pitch and the other was giving Jasprit Bumrah a rest. The report said that the board officials did not seem too happy with the fact that despite losing the first two Tests, vice-captain and star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was rested for the third Test. However, it was also clear that ahead of the Australia series, Bumrah was rested from the third Test as a precautionary measure.
At the same time, the question of pitch was also raised in this meeting, which was anyway being asked by cricket fans across the country. The second Test match played in Pune also had a friendly pitch, in which the Indian batsmen failed miserably. In such a situation, why was a ‘range change’ (a pitch that took more turn from day one) made in the Mumbai Test? The BCCI officials asked this question to Rohit and Gambhir. Mitchell Santner took 13 wickets in the Pune Test, while Ajaz Patel took 11 wickets in Mumbai.
Discussion on Gambhir’s training
Apart from all this, the third important topic that was discussed was Gautam Gambhir’s coaching style. According to the report, board officials did not raise questions about Gambhir’s coaching style, but his methods were definitely discussed. Not only this, from the meeting it has also been revealed that some members of the team management and coach Gautam Gambhir are not on the same page i.e. there are differences between them. Apart from this, the three key people in the team management were also asked what their plan was to get the team back on track in the Australia series.
