India vs New Zealand: The series loss is obviously hurting, and it should hurt, says Gambhir

India’s coach Gautam Gambhir during the press conference ahead of India vs New Zealand 3rd Test at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

Two losses in two Test matches. That too at home. A series lost. And a threat of suffering a clean sweep looming over the head. Let alone youngsters, even the seasoned pros in India’s Test set-up aren’t used to it.

Head coach Gautam Gambhir admitted that it has been a bitter pill to swallow for the whole squad. He said, “I am not going to sugar-coat this. That (the loss) is obviously hurting, but it’s good that it’s hurting because it should hurt. Every time you lose a game, be it at home or be it away from home, it should hurt. That hurt will make us better.,” Gambhir said on Thursday (October 31, 2024), the eve of India’s third Test against New Zealand.

“Sometimes people say that it should not hurt but it should hurt when you are playing for your country. What’s wrong with being in that position and the more, especially for the youngsters, it’s hurting them. I am sure they are going to push themselves to keep getting better because that is exactly what we want them to be. Pushing themselves every day to be a better cricketer and to do something special because if we have results like what we had in Kanpur, then might as well have results like this and take that hurt and keep moving forward.”

One of the most disappointing aspects of India’s inability to compete against New Zealand in the first two Test matches has been the batters’ lack of will to dig it out in the middle. Batting time appears to be an art on the wane, even among India’s Gen Next cricketers. Gambhir didn’t hesitate from pin-pointing the reason for the decline in defensive skills of Indian batters.

“It completely comes down to T20 cricket, that’s about it. But to be a successful Test cricketer, you see people like Virat (Kohli), you see all the great players who have done well in Test cricket for a long period of time, they have always had good defence. The foundation of your batting in Test cricket has to be defence and then you start taking up from there,” Gambhir said.

“Probably has a lot to do with playing on flat wickets in T20 cricket. But again, we need to keep working on our defence, we need to keep working on our game, we need to keep tightening our game because Test cricket is Test cricket. So, yes (they do have problems defending), but you will probably see going forward in future, the other teams will have the same issue because the more T20 cricket is played, the lesser people will defend.”

In a cricket calendar getting busier with every passing week, Gambhir was confident that the young batters can unlearn the ultra-aggressive mode required in shorter formats. But when asked whether Indian cricket is rapidly moving towards having a separate batting unit for Test and limited overs’ cricket formats, Gambhir played it safe.

“At the moment, it’s difficult to answer this question but going forward, we will have to identify players who are solid red-ball cricketers because ultimately to get the results you will have to work really hard for three or four or five days,” Gambhir said.

“Sometimes it’s important to bat sessions as well, and if you can bat sessions, we know that we have got the bowling attack to take 20 wickets. At the moment, it’s difficult to answer because it’s a hypothetical question but, yes, identifying the right red-ball batters is very, very important.”