There’s Never Been A Transition Like This In Indian Cricket Before: Gambhir

In the wake of India’s humiliating 2-0 whitewash at the hands of South Africa at home, head coach Gautam Gambhir defended the side as he stated that the team is in the midst of a one-of-a-kind transition, with both the batting and bowling departments seeing a change of guard.

In the last 18 months or so, India have lost the services of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin due to retirement while they have fully moved on from senior players such as Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Umesh Yadav due to age.

However, there is still no paucity of experience as the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja,  Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were all in the team during the 0-2 loss against South Africa. Barring Jaiswal, who is also already 28 Tests old, each of the others have been around for over half a decade, and were all present in the side in the series.

But Gambhir claimed that inexperience cost the team big time in the series defeat, and he described the ongoing transition as one-of-a-kind.

"It's tough, you lose so many experienced players at the same time. That's why it's called a transition,” Gambhir said after the game. 

“These guys need time, both the batting and bowling unit. I don't think so ever in Indian cricket, something like this has happened, where the transition is happening in both the spin-bowling department and batting department as well. Normally, your batting is secure and you go through a bowling transition or vice-versa. 

“But with this team, the transition is happening in both the bowling and batting departments. So you guys [media] and all of us need to give them time. And I'm sure they've got the skillsets, quality and talent and that's why they are sitting in the dressing room. They've delivered, consistency is an issue but the consistency will come with experience.” 

Doubling down on the transition theory, Gambhir took the case of Washington Sundar and stated how it’s unfair for people to expect the off-spinner to replicate the returns of Ashwin. Sundar took one wicket at 128 in the series, and, interestingly, bowled just one over in the first Test in Kolkata. 

"That's why we're giving as many opportunities as we can to someone like Washi. But if you expect Washi to deliver straight away what Ashwin did, it's unfair on that young kid,” Gambhir said.

“And that is what you guys need to think as well. The kid's 10-12 Test matches old, he's learning his trade, he's learning to bowl in different conditions and situations.”