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Suresh Raina defends Gautam Gambhir, urging players to take responsibility for India’s poor results and praising Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant ahead of the ODI series.
Gautam Gambhir and his former teammate Suresh Raina (PTI and Instagram)
Former India batter Suresh Raina has defended national head coach Gautam Gambhir amid criticism, stating that the team’s recent poor performance in home Tests mustn’t be blamed on the support staff; as an alternative, players must take responsibility for the outcomes.
India, having been unexpectedly whitewashed at home by Recent Zealand last 12 months, at the moment are facing one other potential debacle in the continuing series against South Africa after losing the primary game of the two-match series.
“Gauti bhaiya (Gautam Gambhir) has worked really hard and he shouldn’t be in any respect at fault. The players need to work really hard and play well. Under him we have now been doing great within the white-ball format where we just won the ICC Champions Trophy and Asia Cup in Dubai earlier this 12 months,” Raina was quoted as saying to PTI.
“The players need to rating, the coach can only guide, advise and provides support to the players,” he said on the Indian Softball Cricket League’s jersey launch, where he was named the event’s brand ambassador.
Raina dismissed suggestions that Gambhir’s position as head coach is in jeopardy as a result of the recent poor home Test record.
“In the event that they (the players) are facing any issues, they need to be communicating to the coach that that is the difficulty. If the players do well then the coach will likely be also applauded. But when the team shouldn’t be doing well, it mustn’t be that the coach needs to be sacked from his post,” he said.
“I actually have played with Gautam bhaiya, he loves Indian cricket team, he loves cricket, I actually have played and won the World Cup with him. So, he has done very well for the country and it’s the players’ responsibility to do well,” he added.
Play Domestic Cricket
Regarding criticism of India’s selection selections in the continuing series, Raina emphasised that domestic cricket performances needs to be the benchmark.
“They need to play domestic cricket commonly and do well there, in the event that they do well that can robotically reflect of their performances on the international level,” he said.
He also identified the challenges of recent cricket, including three different formats and a busy schedule, which affect performance.
“Also the planning of the series could be higher because you’ve got to quickly switch formats from white ball and suddenly you’re playing red-ball cricket again so the players I consider have less time in hand.
“The players must also improve their application in the center, I hope this all is getting noticed…,” he said.
Raina expressed his eagerness for the ODI series between the 2 sides starting November 30, where senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will likely be in motion.
“Ro-Ko (Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli) will likely be back, yes. They did well in Australia and will certainly strengthen the ODI squad against South Africa. Each of them are great ambassadors for world and Indian Cricket,” he said.
“Once they’ll be within the side then the atmosphere will likely be different, Rishabh Pant can be back after some time so it would be fun to observe the ODI series,” Raina added.
(With inputs from Agencies)
Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes cricket content, havin…Read More
Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes cricket content, havin… Read More
November 25, 2025, 15:37 IST
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