After India’s struggle in Tests, Ravi Shastri refuses to protect GautamGambhir

Ravi Shastri recently spoke about his unhappiness with India’s decline in Test cricket under head coach GautamGambhir.

Former India cricketer and coach Ravi Shastri is unhappy with Team India’s decline in Test cricket under head coach GautamGambhir. He feels upset about India’s steady decline in Tests, highlighted by whitewashes at home against New Zealand and South Africa, and a 1-3 loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Ravi Shastri doesn’t want to protect GautamGambhir.

In a teaser podcast released by PrabhatKhabar, Ravi Shastri said, “You tell me. What happened in Guwahati – from 100/1, you skip to 130/7 – this team is not that bad either. They have this much talent at least. The players should take some responsibility, too. You have played spin since you started playing cricket.” When the interviewer asked him if he is protecting Gambhir, Shastri denied it. He said, “I’m not protecting [him]. 100 per cent (he is responsible too). When am I saying anything otherwise? Agar yeh mere saathhota, main pehla responsibility leta (Had this happened with me, I would have been the first one to take responsibility). But then, I wouldn’t have spared the players either in the team meeting.”

India’s decline in Test cricket under Gambhir.

Ravi Shastri’s meltdown seems justifiable. He has remained India’s most successful coach with a win percentage of 65 per cent across formats during his tenure from 2017 to 2021. Under him, India won its maiden Test series in Australia and repeated the feat three years later. India remained the No. 1-ranked Test team for 42 months, from 2016 to 2021, and made the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in 2021. Dravid, who replaced Shastri, endured a slow start, losing the Test series to South Africa. However, after picking up pace, India went ahead in beating Australia and England at home in 2023 and 2024. India even made the second WTC final. That progress, though, seems to have come to a sharp halt under Gambhir. In the last 14 months, the only two Test series India has won are against Bangladesh and the West Indies, followed by a defeat in Australia, a draw in England not too long ago, and now a defeat at the hands of South Africa.