Gautam Gambhir burned and bruised as Sunil Gavaskar fires rampant shots at India Head Coach

Gautam Gambhir's era as the head coach of Team India started with a lot of excitement as he was expected to take the team to new heights in his coaching tenure. But unfortunately, it has not been the case at all.

In his short tenure so far, India lost an ODI series in Sri Lanka 0-3, which was their first ODI series defeat to Sri Lanka in 27 years. If that wasn't enough, the Men in Blue were recently thrashed by New Zealand in a three-match Test series.

India's 0-3 defeat to New Zealand came at home conditions which makes it even more embarrassing. Legendary India opener Sunil Gavaskar was critical of this defeat and spoke about Gautam Gambhir's short tenure as the head coach of the team so far.

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Sunil Gavaskar takes a brutal dig at Gautam Gambhir's coaching stint

During an exclusive interview with India Today, Sunil Gavaskar was asked about Gautam Gambhir's tenure as India's head coach which has been filled with difficulties and various questions so far. He termed India's defeat to New Zealand as "a terrible loss" and added that the results speak for themselves.

"The results speak for themselves. Even in Sri Lanka, India lost an ODI series after a long time. And now here, it's a loss, it's a terrible loss. So, I think the results speak for themselves," Sunil Gavaskar said.

The loss to New Zealand was India's first time ever that they suffered a clean sweep in a Test series of three or more matches at home. It was also the first time that India suffered a Test series whitewash at home since South Africa's 2-0 series win in 1999-2000.

The defeat to New Zealand was also India's first Test series loss at home in 12 years. It was a stunning result for New Zealand who exceeded the expectations after defeating one of the best-ever Test teams in their backyard.

Gautam Gambhir's coaching tenure so far

Gautam Gambhir joined as India's head coach after Rahul Dravid's stint ended with the T20 World Cup 2024 win in June. Dravid had quite a successful coaching tenure which ended with India's T20 World Cup 2024 triumph under the leadership of Rohit Sharma.

Gambhir's coaching tenure started with India's 3-0 win over Sri Lanka in the T20I series under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav. However, the Men in Blue were given a reality check during the ODI series which followed as they were clean-swept by the home team.

Record low for Team India

Before the New Zealand Tests, India were high on confidence after having defeated Bangladesh 2-0 in a two-match Test series. However, the loss to New Zealand have brought their confidence to a record low.

Gautam Gambhir will have some serious work to do before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to prepare the team for a grueling Test series against a formidable Australian team. The five-match Test series will begin on November 22 in Perth.