After winning the Test series 2-0 against West Indies, Indian team head coach Gautam Gambhir held a press conference in which he made his views clear on many important issues including the future of senior players, youth captaincy and social media trolling.
Indian team head coach Gautam Gambhir, while drawing attention to the questions about Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli playing in the 2027 ODI World Cup, said, ‘The 50-over World Cup is still about two and a half years away. Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are great players. I hope they perform well, but for now it is important to focus on the present.’
However, he expressed an emotional approach on keeping players out of the team, saying, ‘Keeping a player out of the team is a very emotional decision for me. Young players like Nitish Reddy should also get a chance.’
Gambhir gave full support to Shubman Gill, who is going through a challenging phase as captain. He said, ‘He fulfills every standard as a captain. No one has done him a favour by making him captain, he fully deserves it. He has earned everyone’s respect through his actions and words.’
Gautam Gambhir expressed deep regret over the incidents of targeting young players, and especially Harshit Rana, on social media. He hit out at the trolls and said, ‘It is shameful that people are targeting a 23-year-old player (Harshit Rana) just for running his YouTube channel. He is not a 33-year-old player who can face trolls.’
An emotional Gautam Gambhir said, ‘Target me, I am fine, but leave these kids. This is not just about him, it is about every young player. “The demonstrations are important, but they cannot be targeted like this. We have a moral responsibility to stop this.”
