After the ODI series concludes on July 19, the BCCI will have a review meeting to discuss the Indian team’s poor performance that led to T20 series defeats against minnows Ireland and England.
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia stated that the Board will not make any “knee-jerk” judgments. With one game remaining on Saturday, the Indian squad is already behind 0-3 against England after losing 0-2 to Ireland. However, as head coach Gautam Gambhir is under contract with the BCCI till the 2027 ODI World Cup, there is reportedly no immediate threat to his position.
“The BCCI is currently observing the performance of the Indian T20 team which has not been up to the mark in the ongoing series against England,” PTI quoted Saikia as saying on Friday on the sidelines of the ICC Annual Conference in Edinburgh.
According to the BCCI secretary, the board will not make any snap decisions; instead, it will be an overall evaluation of the performance.
“However this is not something abnormal and can happen in international cricket. We consider it as a purely bad phase. Once the ODI series gets over on July 19 and the team comes back, we will have a review meeting with core members of the team to discuss what went wrong in England. Since there is a ODI series, we are hoping that team will be back in good form,” Saikia added.
Saikia also stressed that the review meeting will be “strictly about the performance of the team and how course correction can be done with regards to shortfalls. Nothing else will be discussed.”
The Indian side has accomplished numerous “unwanted firsts” under head coach Gambhir, such as a 0–3 Test whitewash, a home ODI series loss to New Zealand, and the first-ever T20I series loss to Ireland. However, a possible 0–4 whitewash against England in Twenty20 Internationals is worse than a nightmare.
Ajit Agarkar, the head of the selectors, and Gambhir are expected to attend the review meeting. There is uncertainty regarding T20I captain Shreyas Iyer’s availability because he is anticipated to travel to Zimbabwe for the three-match series.
Similar evaluations had also occurred following the home series debacles in New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa.
There is no reason to think that a coach who has won two ICC Trophies will be fired as a hot potato just four months after India successfully defended their T20 World Cup title under Gambhir’s guidance. However, there is one more thing that is also true.
But the current team, led by new captain Shreyas Iyer, looks a far cry from its former self, and with the terrible performance of the T20 team, the former Delhi left-hander might be asked some important questions.
It is correct to say that Gambhir is not on the committee that chooses the team. However, on a squad with few superstars, he has the most influence when it comes to selecting the playing XI.
Sanju Samson’s exclusion from the Zimbabwe T20 series can be criticized, but Gambhir needs to explain why he would remove Samson from the playing XI in order to create room for 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, whose time would have eventually come.
Quotes from Samson’s previous interview, in which he claimed that Gambhir had informed him that he would only be dropped if he had 21 zeroes, reappeared after the news of his exclusion from the Zimbabwe-bound squad under the pretense of being “rested” was recently revealed.
Cut to India’s post-match conference following a 76-all-out, where the head coach stated that he had a “conversation” with Samson and that he would not divulge the details out of respect for their meeting’s sacredness.
However, the question that arises is whether there is clarity even when there is communication. After failing in three games following the T20 World Cup, what would happen if someone was instructed to play freely and that 21 ducks wouldn’t matter and the same person was informed he was being “rested”? Can Samson be held accountable if he receives contradictory signals?
In a similar vein, the second question is why the tour’s team selection was inconsistent. Six different Playing XIs were used in six T20I matches between England and Ireland (including the postponed match). It is a well-kept secret that Gambhir does not get along well with either Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma when it comes to the ODI team, but these ongoing experiments have undoubtedly created a sense of unease among players who will attempt to play for spots in the XI rather than play fearlessly.
His stubbornness with a batter till No. 8 is the third question that springs to mind. Another question that demands an answer is what Washington Sundar is doing in the T20 scheme of things.
Deep Dasgupta, a former Indian wicketkeeper currently working as a broadcaster in the UK, believes that Gambhir and team management should be able to consider a wider range of players with two years remaining.
“Yes it is frustrating and disappointing but there’s a bigger picture to look into. So there is no harm in trying players. These young players are not used to these conditions. Suddenly pitches are different. The way you play T20 in UK is different from how you play in India. In IPL, volume of runs in the first six overs becomes important but in England, the approach in Powerplay is more about preservation,” Dasgupta said.
