Before things get serious from next week with the Asia Cup, coach Gautam Gambhir is enjoying his short break. He recently attended a Delhi Premier League match and answered a fun rapid-fire question round. The Indian cricket team head coach, who has been in focus since he took charge last year after the T20 World Cup, was given a few words to which he associated Indian players’ names. Here’s how he equated certain words with Indian cricketers:
Clutch – Sachin Tendulkar
Desi Boy – Virat Kohli
Speed – Jasprit Bumrah
Golden Arm – Nitish Rana
Most Stylish – Shubman Gill
Mr. Consistent – Rahul Dravid
Run Machine – VVS Laxman
Most Funny – Rishabh Pant
Death Over Specialist – “Wanted to mention Bumrah, but since I have already taken his name, so Zaheer Khan”
Recently, former Indian cricket team batter Aakash Chopra pointed out that Gautam Gambhir had a worrying start as head coach in Test cricket, before adding that despite the poor results, it is important to remember that the team is currently in transition. India have won just five out of 15 Tests under Gambhir’s coaching, but their performance in the series against England left a lot of people impressed. It was a crucial result for the team that suffered Test series losses against New Zealand at home and Australia away. Chopra highlighted the importance of the upcoming Bangladesh series on Gambhir’s future.
“Gautam Gambhir has been the coach in 15 Tests, of which India have won five, lost eight, and two have been drawn. The win percentage is 33.33, which is not great. However, it’s also true that India are going through a transition in Test cricket, and transition is painful,” Chopra said on YouTube.
“India have struggled a little in Test cricket. What happened against New Zealand was slightly surprising and worrying. That was definitely bad. In that backdrop, you went to Australia, and Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s Test careers ended there. They didn’t retire there, but they didn’t play Test matches after that,” he added.