Coach Gambhir sticks to his guns, reaps rewards

WHEN Gautam Gambhir took the dais inside the press conference room of the Sydney Cricket Ground on the afternoon of January 5, it had been only minutes since Australia had handed India an overpowering 3-1 defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

- GOMESH S

But the interaction was not just going to be about what happened on the field in Sydney, but his tenure till that time.

Since taking over as head coach of the team, Gambhir had faced an ODI series loss in Sri Lanka, a 0-3 clean sweep Test series versus New Zealand (their first series loss at home in 12 years) apart from conceding the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. That was not all though. Tensions had been building up through the tour with R Ashwin's retirement, rumours of rift in the dressing room and Rohit Sharma not playing the fifth Test. While Sharma admitted later that he stood down owing to lack of runs, Gambhir not saying so on the eve of the Test led to more rumours. It did not look good.