NEW DELHI: India’s chief coach Gautam Gambhir categorically mentioned about “honesty” and “honest people” in his press conference in Sydney on Thursday, saying that it’s critical for a team in transition.
Speaking ahead of the series-deciding fifth and last Test of the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), Gambhir took all the tough questions after India’s dismal performance in the last three Tests of the series, following their victory in the tour opener at Perth.
India’s 184-run defeat in Melbourne gave the Aussies a 2-1 lead going into the last match. India need to win he last Test to retain the BGT as the previous edition’s winners, while a draw will ensure Australia reclaiming the trophy for the first time since 2014.

“The kind of talent that there is in Indian cricket, we will always be in safe hands. But there will be times when we will not have the results, we will have to be patient,” said Gambhir, who took over from Rahul Dravid as India’s head coach six months ago. “More than criticising the young players, we will need to give them time to develop as well, and that is not only the role of the support staff but you people (media) as well — probably not criticising them but help them out as well. Transition happens not just for us but the country and we’re in it together.”
Indian batting has been inconsistent throughout the tour, with only Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul showing some sort of consistency among the specialist batters, besides the find of the tour — allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who hit his maiden international century in Melbourne.
Captain Rohit Sharma’s woeful run with the bat has continued, while Virat Kohli’s graph once again went downhill after his century in Perth.
With the legendary Indian duo in the twilight of their career and struggling, Gambhir was also asked about his views on transition and how he is looking to handle it going forward.

“Indian cricket will always be in safe hands as long as we have honest people sitting in that room, and honesty is the most important thing for any transition. It is not about phasing out the senior players and getting in the young ones…Ultimately the only thing that can keep you in the dressing room is performance, and it starts from all of us,” said Gambhir.
“It is exciting times in Indian cricket. I’ve always felt that when transitions have happened in the past, there was one department that was carrying the team forward. But at the moment, transition will happen in both the departments (bowling and batting) and you can already see that. You can see some younger fast bowlers coming in; there are younger batters who are on their first tour of Australia and have done exceptionally well.
“Look at Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Reddy or Washington Sundar; Akash Deep has bowled really well, so has Harshit (Rana). So the conversation that has happened has only been about how we can play well in this series,” Gambhir said to conclude his reply.