Gautam Gambhir's era - What to name it?
It’s easy to judge performance of players as that’s the most visible aspect of sports, however the role of Team Head Coach , Support Staff i.e. entire Management Team cannot be ignored.
Downfall started in New Zealand Test Series which really punctured the ethos of the dressing room. The utter disdain shown to Ashwin by giving him the ball as second choice off spinner behind Washington Sunder was nothing but disrespectful.
It wasn’t as-if Ashwin had to make way for a prodigy, rather he was made to bowl after a bowler who till then, with all due respect, was a 3rd change behind himself and Jadeja. Giving Washington Sunder the striker spinner role was not only disrespectful but the tone that was set was alarming. It was then unsurprising to see Ashwin retire in Australia, another series which was nothing short of embarrassment. Entire series was pinned on shoulder’s of just 1 man - Jasprit Bumrah, who also got injured ultimately.
Even if you were building a team for future, you need to have blend of youth and experience, but the utter disrespect that has been met out to the seniors in the team seems nothing short of personal agenda that’s been driven by Ex-Cricketers against current Cricketers.
It is even more disturbing that there is no intervention from power centre in BCCI, which only shows that professional nature of Indian Cricket is just a decision by someone to handout contract to players based on someone’s recommendation rather than anything to do with merit.
One can argue that Ranji Trophy performances and IPL performances have been recognized off late, but it surely can’t be at the cost of players who have been there and done that. In fact the volumes of lessons that these new players could have and would have learnt under the old guard would have been invaluable and the transition that should have been more planned, seemed abrupt and to a greater degree, unjust.
What’s been happening with Indian Cricket, has an eerie similarity with what had happened under Greg Chappel. One excuse (if any) that could have been given to Greg was that he really didn’t understand the cricket culture and how cricketers are venerated in India. It’s a sea change to what he would have seen and been through in Australia however in case of Gautam Gambhir; it’s shocking and alarming the way seniors are being shown the door, either directly or indirectly.
Team Management has the responsibility of maintaining the team harmony, team balance and team morale, however the evidence that’s infront of us shows that they have done anything but that. Time for some accountability, one can argue that we have gone well past beyond it, however it’s never too late.