"Criticism will come…": Shardul Thakur breaks silence on Gautam Gambhir’s controversial attitude

India National Cricket Team pace-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur has opened up on head coach Gautam Gambhir's aggressive nature and his fight-for-the-team mentality.

Shardul Thakur said that the head coach Gautam Gambhir transfers his aggressive energy to the team to charge the players up in the huddles, which is beneficial for them.

Criticism will come and go, but as a team, winning matters - Shardul Thakur

Gautam Gambhir is known for being short-tempered, and he never backs down from a fight for his team. During his playing days, Gambhir was seen getting engaged in heated spats with several players, and that thing has not stopped even after he took up the coaching job.

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In the Indian Premier League (IPL), while serving as the mentor, Gambhir had some infamous altercations, and after becoming India's head coach, his first major fight happened with a chief curator in England

A few days before the fifth Test match against England, India's coaches went to see the pitch, and they received a warning from the Surrey head groundsman Lee Fortis to stay at least 2.5 metres away from the surface.

Indian coaches were not wearing spikes during their inspection, and the warning didn't sit well with Gambhir. He gave a brutal bashing to Lee Fortis and was seeing pointing a finger at him and yelling, "You're just a groundsman, you stay in your capacity."

Meanwhile, in an interview with RevSportz, Shardul Thakur was asked about Gautam Gambhir facing criticism for the Test series loss to New Zealand and Australia, as well as his never-give-up attitude.

He responded by labelling Gautam Gambhir as an achiever and said that the criticism will always come, but the team is in a right path under his guidance.

"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. 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," Shardul Thakur said.

This team had no other option than to rise and put up a fight - Shardul Thakur

Shardul Thakur also talked about how Young Team India, under the captaincy of Shubman Gill, managed to perform well in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy to draw the series.

He said that they didn't have the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Mohammed Shami in the squad, and the players had no option but to rise and fight. Shardul Thakur elaborated:

"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 [Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma] retiring from the game, and not having Mohammed Shami in the squad. The bit of experience this team had was in the 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."

Even our team huddles had Gauti Bhai saying: “You are lucky to be representing your country" - Shardul Thakur

Shardul Thakur further claimed that the head coach, Gambhir, boosted the morale of the young players by making them aware of the talent they possess and instilled confidence in them. He stated:

"Even our team huddles had Gauti Bhai [Gautam Gambhir] 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."

Also Read: Indian player caught lobbying against Shubman Gill on the brink of Asia Cup squad selection