Gautam Gambhir issues an official statement after India's Dressing Room chat leaks

India head coach Gautam Gambhir has called for patience after the team's loss to Australia in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Gambhir spoke about honesty in the dressing room and feels that it will take the Indian team forward.

Gautam Gambhir is not worried about the phase of transition as he is confident about the depth of Indian cricket. He asked the younger players to be given enough space to perform which will allow them to give their best for the country.

Indian team is currently going through a transitional phase where a no. of retirements will be on the cards in the next few years. Recently, Ravichandran Ashwin retired from international cricket while the other seniors like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are not in great form as well.

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"Transition happens not just for us but the country" - Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir spoke to the reporters on the eve of the fifth Test between Australia and India in Sydney. While speaking about the future, Gambhir called for patience in this tough phase and feels that the media also has a role to play at this stage.

"The kind of talent that there is in Indian cricket, we will always be in safe hands. But there will be times when we will not have the results, we will have to be patient," Gambhir said in the press conference.

"More than criticizing the young players, we will need to give them time to develop as well, and that is not only the role of the support staff but you people (media) as well -- probably not criticizing them but help them out as well. Transition happens not just for us but the country and we're in it together," he added.

A no. of players are playing their first series in Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Akash Deep are on their first tour to Australia and have shown promise as well.

Gautam Gambhir calls for honesty in Indian cricket

Gautam Gambhir is not worried about India's performance and believes that the future is in safe hands given the depth of Indian cricket. He called for improvement in performance and reckons that everyone has a role to play in it.

"Indian cricket will always be in safe hands as long as we have honest people sitting in that room, and honesty is the most important thing for any transition," the former India opener stated.

"It is not about phasing out the senior players and getting in the young ones. Ultimately the only thing that can keep you in the dressing room is performance, and it starts from all of us," he observed.

Reason for India's poor performance

According to Gautam Gambhir, one of the main reasons for India's poor performance is the transition in both the departments batting and bowling. He lauded the batters like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Kumar Reddy for their performances on their first tour to Australia.

"I've always felt that when transitions have happened in the past, there was one department that was carrying the team forward. But at the moment, the transition will happen in both the departments (bowling and batting) and you can already see that," Gambhir explained.

"You can see some younger fast bowlers coming in; there are younger batters who are on their first tour of Australia and have done exceptionally well," he said.

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Kumar Reddy are the two highest run-scorers for India in the series currently. Both of them have been impressive and have shown promise for the future. Jaiswal has scored 359 runs at an average of 51.28 while Reddy has scored 294 runs at an average of 49.

Two of India's senior batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have struggled for runs throughout the series which is a huge cause of concern for the team management. Australia currently leads the series 2-1 and the final Test of the series will be played in Sydney on January 3.