Gautam Gambhir Press Conference Live: Gautam Gambhir in the hot seat

The BGT has not left Indian shores in eight years, but this time around, there is a threat. A sense of fear is lurking around the corner. There is a touch of worry that Australia may finally reclaim the trophy… all because India is not in the best of forms. They first lost an ODI series 0-3 in Sri Lanka, and now the Kiwi debacle. Clearly, it hasn’t been the smoothest of starts to Gambhir’s reign as coach. It’s been a case of two extremes thus far. Yes, they’ve been swept twice, but India have inflicted the same – having beaten Bangladesh 2-0 and 3-0 in Tests and T20s, respectively and defeated Sri Lanka 3-0 in T20Is.

Sure enough, Australia doesn’t promise to be a one-sided affair. The scales may heavily be tilted in favour of the Aussies, but they’ve had their own issues. Both are teams in transition, and there couldn’t have been a more level-headed battle to set up Gambhir’s litmus test. There are various kinds of reports going around in the media, such as Gambhir has been subjected to early questioning and that if things go haywire in Australia, his post could be in danger too. Rest assured, all of it is going to be thrown at him. Whether he plays it with a straight bat or goes dancing down the wicket is anyone’s guess.

Gambhir is also expected to end the suspense around captain Rohit Sharma finally. In all likelihood, the Indian captain is not travelling with the team tomorrow, all but confirming his absence from the first Test if not two. Rohit is expected to become a father for the second time, and it’s but natural to prioritise family for a moment as special as this. Four years ago, Virat Kohli did the same, and what a series it turned out for India. The only Test India lost was the one Kohli played. But hey, let’s not draw parallels.

Since succeeding Rahul Dravid and taking over as India’s head coach in July, Gambhir has held only a handful of press conferences. Unlike Dravid, who ensured he was there whenever the team lost, Gambhir has let Rohit do most of the talking. Today promises to be a totally different affair. Expect some hard, rough, and tough questions, and truth be told, it’ll be surprising if he doesn’t respond to them like Ravi Shastri, with Kohli sitting next to him, did before the 2018/19 tour. The time between 9 AM and 9:45 AM will dictate much about where the coach and the team stand mentally after what happened two weeks ago.

The Indian squad announced for the Test series is pretty much similar to the New Zealand series, and while there is concern – and rightfully so – all is not lost just yet. The Indian batters had a tough time batting on turners, but the decks in Australia are going to be nothing like them. The series opener takes place in Perth. It may not be the WACA anymore, but Perth still gives jeepers to any 90’s kid who watched the Indian team in Australia.

Regardless of what the reports say, Gambhir would surely want to be the one to turn the tide. As the old saying goes, there’s only so much a coach can do. It’s always up to the players, but perhaps in a rare scenario, the coach has as much role as the 18 players travelling with him. Anything less than 4-0 will snatch away from India a place in the World Test Championship final, and for that, India will need to put up their best show ever. Sunil Gavaskar has already said it’s not happening, but the mind can’t help but hark back to four years ago when, after India lost the Adelaide Test, getting bowled out for 36 all out, several former Aussies predicted a 5-0 whitewash. Well, we know how that fared.