Srinagar: Former India cricketer has sent a strong message to Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir in the backdrop of sudden retirements from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli , saying that Gambhir has to leave if he fails to deliver in England.
Both Kohli and Sharma were gearing up for England tour with both making a rare return to the Ranji Trophy. Both players appeared for their respective state sides in India’s premier domestic tournament, and it seemed the duo would aim for a strong comeback in the next month’s England tour. However, in a decision that shook the cricketing world, both Rohit and Kohli announced their respective Test retirements over the past two weeks.
It has been reported that neither of the two was in the scheme of things for the England tour, which might have prompted their retirements. During a freewheeling chat on OTTPlay App, Atul Wassan spoke in detail about the supposed ‘Gambhir Era’ in Indian cricket, stating that every coach has to be given a “free hand.”
“Whichever coach comes, comes with the dogma. You have to give him a free hand. If you’re a very strong personality, you’re given a free hand. And if you don’t deliver, you have to be out. It’s not as if you make all your choices, but in the end, you cannot guarantee results. There has to be some balance, some kind of mentorship has to be there from the board,” said Wassan.
Wassan also recalled the duo of Kohli and former coach Ravi Shastri, highlighting that they, too, were given a free hand and one of their decisions cost India in the 2021 T20 World Cup, too.
“Virat and Ravi Shastri also had that kind of power, and sometimes they made mistakes too. When we lost the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai, we didn’t fly a leg-spinner. That was a mistake, and that was their belief. They were given the leverage and they didn’t deliver,” said Wassan.
