‘Known Gambhir as an…..’ AB warns about ’emotional’ coaches in dressing room

CHENNAI : Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers termed Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir as an “emotional” person during his encounters with him while playing against each other and warned that such coaches could not be a “good thing to have” for a team.

AB was speaking to Indian cricket legend Ravichandran Ashwin in a YouTube video. The video was made in the aftermath of India’s series loss to South Africa at home by 0-2, their second whitewash at home in back-to-back years, placing them in a scenario that Indian cricket has never experienced since years: That the home domination and the tag of ‘home bullies’ is slowly waning. This has also opened up debate on the future of Gambhir as India’s head coach, under whom India has lost two Test series at home, one against New Zealand last year, which marked their first loss at home after 12 years and five successive Tests to South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia (SENA) nations at home.

Speaking during the conversation on Ashwin’s YouTube channel, AB said, “I do not know what GG is like when it comes to leadership. I have known him as an emotional player, and if that is the case in the change room, generally an emotional coach is not a good thing to have. But it is not to say he is that kind of a coach and the kind of leader behind the scenes. There is no right and wrong. Some players will feel comfortable with a former player.

Some players will be comfortable with a coach that’s never played the game before, but he (Gambhir) has got a lot of years of experience coaching the game.”

AB said that while he has never played under either Proteas coach Shukri Conrad or Indian coach Gambhir, he lauded him for his “calm character” and decision making based on “statistics and gut feel”.

“I have never played under Shukri, and I have never been in the Indian dressing room with GG, Morne Morkel and Ryan ten Doeschate. It looks great on paper, but I do not know what the dynamic is like behind the scenes. What I can say is it is different for every player. I absolutely love playing under Gary Kirsten, he is a former player and similar to Gautam Gambhir. Some players might find confidence and feel comfortable with a former player being there, a great of the game and find some extra inspiration to put extra yards for the team and for the coach,” he said.

“Then there is Shukri Conrad, who has got this long track record of domestic teams that he has coached. He has plenty of experience and he’s a very calm character. He generally makes his decisions on statistics and also combines with his gut feel. He does not thumb suck some of the team selections and really works with the players to help them come through. But you can also only do that with a strong group of senior players, with Kagsio Rabada there, Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, to name a few,” he signed off.

During the second Test, a maiden Test ton from Senuran Muthumsamy and a hard-hitting 93 from Marco Jansen took SA to 489 in their first innings after opting to bat first. India collapsed to 201 all out in their first innings, with Jansen taking a five-wicket haul. Proteas did not choose to impose the follow-on on the hosts, and a brilliant 94 from Tristan Stubbs was the highlight of Proteas’ 260/5 declared, pushing their lead to 548 runs. India was skittled out for 140 in chase of 549, with spinner Simon Harmer taking a six-fer. India registered their biggest Test loss in history, with 408 runs. (ANI)