Follow UsThere have been plenty of ups and downs since Gautam Gambhir took charge as India's head coach. They suffered a 3-0 whitewash in the Test series at home, lost 3-1 away in Australia, but bounced back well in England to level the series 2-2. On the white-ball front, India won the Champions Trophy earlier this year.
Despite mixed results so far, all-rounder Shadul Thakur, who played a couple of games in the Test series against England, believes India are heading in the right direction under Gambhir.
"Yes, we have always seen him as a player who is willing to fight for the team, and even during the huddles, he transferred that energy into us, the one that he brought into the field during his playing days. He is an achiever who has won trophies for the nation and the state," Shardul told RevSportz.
"And he brings all those experiences and motivations into the team. Criticism will come and go, but as a team, winning matters, and I believe we are heading in the right direction when it comes to that."
Thakur believes the drawn Test series in England is even more special as it did not have Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who retired from the format ahead of the tour. Moreover, Jasprit Bumrah played just three matches as part of his workload management.
"When your backs are against the wall, there is no going back and that was the situation, having two of the most senior pro players [Kohli and Rohit] retiring from the game, and not having Mohammed Shami in the squad. The bit of experience this team had was in form of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. The batting unit was fairly inexperienced, except for KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant. This team had no other option than to rise and put up a fight, because at the end of the day, you are representing India," Shardul observed.
Thakur also lauded the way Gambhir lifted the morale of the team during the tough England tour.
"Even our team huddles had Gauti Bhai saying: 'You are lucky to be representing your country.' Maybe young, but we are here because of our talent, and as our coach said: 'If you have the belief, then there is no opponent that you cannot beat. If it's your day, you can take any side down, based on how badly you want it.' And most importantly, when youngsters are in the team, they would do anything to showcase their talent in front of the world. I guess that's what lifted the morale of the team and kept our team going," Thakur said.
Thakur did not have the best of England tours as he managed just a couple of wickets and scored just 46 runs across his two matches.