Hyderabad: Indian cricket men’s team’s head coach Gautam Gambhir threw his weight behind star batter Virat Kolhi and said the talisman will come good very soon.
Gambhir was addressing the media at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru where the Indian team is gearing up to take on New Zealand in the first of the three Test matches.
After the three Test matches against New Zealand, India will travel to Australia for a five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The eight Test matches are very crucial in India’s quest to win the World Test Championship title – having lost the previous two finals.
Gambhir said he isn’t looking too far ahead and opined that Kohli’s hunger for runs has never diminished and hoped the team’s star batter comes good very soon.
Kohli has scored only one half century in his last eight Test match innings (76 against South Africa in Centurion in December 2023) and hasn’t scored runs of repute in red-ball cricket post that.
“My thoughts about Virat have always been very clear that he is a world-class cricketer. He has performed for such a long period of time. He is as hungry as when he made his debut. To now, his hunger is always there. That hunger is what makes him a world-class cricketer. I am sure that he will be hungry to get runs in this series and probably moving forward to Australia as well,” Gambhir told the media.
The Indian team’s head coach added that one shouldn’t judge a player at the end of one series or one phase and added that in sport a player is not going to be at his best every single time he steps out to play. “You don’t keep judging people after every game. If you keep judging people after every game, that’s not fair on them. It’s a sport and people are bound to fail. But more importantly, I think if we can get the results, if people are doing what is needed of them to get the results in our favour, that is fine,” he explained.
The head coach added that he would back his players to the hilt and hoped that players will be hungry to prove themselves, especially in the eight Test matches that come up. “Everyone doesn’t have the best days everyday. I think the kind of vibe we have is we keep backing our players. My job is to keep backing the players. My job is to keep selecting the best playing 11, not dropping anyone. I’m sure everyone is hungry and they know there are eight Test matches in a row. So, this is probably the start of them looking at eight Test matches in a row and performing well,” Gambhir concluded.
India and New Zealand play three Test matches – in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai – from October 16, 2024.
