Former India batsman Gautam Gambhir dominated the headlines on Wednesday for his comment on a cricketing matter. Gambhir believes that the foreign coaches who have coached Team India and in India do not have the “emotions” that the Indian coaches have.
Gambhir reckoned the non-Indian coaches who have coached the Indian national team and other teams in the country – such as the IPL – are being given a “lot of importance” and come to India predominantly to fill in their bank accounts.
He said he is happy for the fact that Team India’s last three coaches – Rahul Dravid, Ravi Shastri, and Anil Kumble – were of local roots instead of foreigners.
The 41-year-old former India batsman himself uploaded this video on his social media handles of him speaking at an event earlier this week in Delhi.
“One really good thing that has happened in Indian cricket in the past six-seven years is that Indians have started coaching the Indian cricket team. I am a very strong believer in this. Indians should coach the Indian cricket team,” Gambhir said.
“All these foreign coaches, whom we end up giving a lot of importance to, they only come here, they make money and they vanish. Emotions are involved in sports, and the only people who can be emotional about Indian cricket or Indian sports are the people who have represented their country. So whether it is Rahul Dravid right now, or before him it was Ravi Shastri and Anil Kumble, I hope this trend continues. You ask Rahul Dravid, probably he will be more passionate than all those other guys. I wish I had played under any one of these Indian coaches,” Gambhir added.
India is an emotion, Indian cricket is an emotion. Only an Indian can understand this! pic.twitter.com/YjT6dl1ZRg
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) November 30, 2022
This video of Gautam Gambhir gained a lot of reaction from fans, many of whom pointed out that India won the 2011 World Cup, in which Gambhir too was involved, under the coaching of South African Gary Kirsten.
Here are the reactions to Gambhir’s video:
India under John Wright
2002 Champions Trophy 🏆
2003 World Cup runner up
Won Test and ODI series in PAK
Drew Test series in AUSIndia under Greg Chappell
Won their 1st Test in SA
Unearthed the likes of Dhoni, RainaIndia under Gary Kirsten
Won 2011 WC 🏆
No 1 Test team https://t.co/brVGpvxoEb— Arnav Singh (@Arnavv43) November 30, 2022
Ye kya hai bhaihttps://t.co/2mxXALJBBn
— Sojal (@Lost_guy01) November 30, 2022
I wonder if having Indian coaches and having no trophies in the same period are correlated. https://t.co/s2ozSkILei
— Timothy Clifford (@Tim_Clif) November 30, 2022
This guy is up to something. I think he wants a coaching job with ICT, otherwise there is no need to share a clip of a random interview on twitter. https://t.co/uiyyV9oPg3
— ; (@AIH183no) November 30, 2022
Well understandable. His career got finished under a foreign coach tenure only. So bound to be salty. Anyways I feel all the foriegn coaches I have seen whether it be fletcher or kirsten or even chappell. Each of them had helped india team a lot https://t.co/vLHbkELGCB
— Square Drive (@SQD05) November 30, 2022
Andy Flower is the coach of Lucknow Super Giants. Gambhir is mentor of that team. What a stupid statement. You select a coach based on merit. https://t.co/EtH0oe6hSo
— VINAY (@SimplyWazza) November 30, 2022
Gambhir and his 2-3 fans https://t.co/gjGnGwzVeW pic.twitter.com/Gy8nasnBG7
— anay (@anayposting) November 30, 2022
John Wright and Gary Kirsten didn’t invest their heart and soul to listen this filth from Gautam. Even Fletcher gave his all. Kohli still credits him as one of the best technical coaches- which he was. https://t.co/pdZGwdCMMU
— tea_addict 🇮🇳 (@on_drive23) November 30, 2022
Another more shit take 😂
We shared a trophy in 2002, John Wright was the coach, Kirsten in 2011 WC, Fletcher in 2013 CT
The coach just needs to be picked based on merit and nothing else
PS – KKR won both the cups with a foreign coach only 😂😂 https://t.co/ax3GWxAXyN
— v. (@v1mal7) November 30, 2022
What nonsense. U played like Gary Kirsten during 2011 world cup. Cmg fwd, shuffling and playing on d Leg side. Bhool gaya kya beta😳 https://t.co/EBs4egPzZU
— Manoj Louis (@manoj_louis) November 30, 2022
Kuch matlab, kuch bhi.
He is in a way disrespecting coaches like Gary Kirsten, Duncan Fletcher and John wright. https://t.co/XoXV4OWNCD— Harminder (@21harminder) November 30, 2022