2 weeks Ago By Mid-day
Former India player and head coach Ravi Shastri backed current coach to soon learn from the setbacks in the early phase of his stint at the helm in the national set-up. Shastri’s comments come after India suffered their first-ever Test series loss at home in 12 years, through a 113-run defeat to New Zealand in the second Test at Pune. Gambhir, who took over as India’s coach from Rahul Dravid in July, also saw the team lose its first bilateral ODI series against Sri Lanka after 27 years in August.
“New Zealand have beaten them [India] handsomely in both the Test matches. It’s food for thought [on series loss]. He [Gambhir] has just taken over the job.
It’s never easy being coach of a team that has such a big following. It’s still early days in his career as a coach. But he’ll soon learn,” said Shastri when on air in the match at MCA Stadium, Gahunje.
After an eight-wicket loss to New Zealand in the first Test at Bangalore, the defeat in Pune inside three days meant India’s unbeaten 18-series streak at home was brought to a screeching halt. Though India have retained their top spot in the ongoing World Test Championship cycle, the Rohit Sharma-led side have suffered a drop in their points percentage (62.82).
There is now not much to separate India from Australia, who are at No. 2 in the standings with 62.50 points percentage.
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