Former Indian national cricket team player Akash Chopra has come up with a bold statement for Gautam Gambhir and his coaching staff. He said that the blame cannot be placed on the head coach and his staff for the way Virat Kohli was sacked.
India national cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir has come under huge scrutiny after the team's poor outing in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The coach and staff were criticized, especially after the failures of the batsmen in the series.
Gautam Gambhir has been criticized for Virat Kohli's flops
With senior batsman Virat Kohli along with others struggling to move on, many experts like Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar and others have criticized Gautam Gambhir. They saw the head coach and staff doing nothing to improve the hitters.
Aakash Chopra referred to the comments of Sanjay Manjrekar and Sunil Gavaskar, saying that Virat Kohli was struggling with this line, saying that one cannot say that the batter was out because Gautam Gambhir did not solve the problems.
You can't say Virat Kohli walked out because Gautam Gambhir didn't solve his problems – Akash Chopra
He explained in a video clip he posted on his YouTube channel:
“Both Sunny bhai (Sunil Gavaskar) and Sanjay bhai (Manjrekar) said Virat Kohli's off-stump issues are chronic. They said it should be resolved and asked what Abhishek Nayyar and Gautam Gambhir were doing as part of the coaching staff.
“When you use the word chronic or you see a problem that doesn't exist today just in isolation, that may have been there earlier, went away for a while, and comes back, can you blame the coaching department that's been there? With this team for just the last six months, no You can say Virat Kohli walked out because Gautam did not solve his problems.”
If it is a chronic problem – Akash Chopra suffered from Virat Kohli
Aakash Chopra also stated that Virat Kohli going out to balls outside off is a chronic problem that even the latest coaching staff has not been able to rectify. He pointed out that Gambhir should not be the one to come under criticism as questions should be asked about his previous coaching setup as well. He added:
“If it's a chronic problem like someone stays committed to the front foot or someone's reflexes slow down, it's not going to happen in six months. So if you have to point your guns and shoot, you have to look at recent staff training as well, which doesn't speak to “Nobody about him.”
“I heard someone say: I'm done talking about these players. I want to hold the coaching staff accountable because these are chronic problems.” I would say, then I ask it not from this technical staff but from the previous staff because this technical staff stayed for a long time and they had a chance to correct these shortcomings.
Virat Kohli, who slammed a century in Perth, failed to bowl in the last 4 matches of the series. He came out in a similar way to balls outside and saw many attacking him.
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