Gautam Gambhir ordered to take up India's batting coach role only for Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has asked the team's head coach Gautam Gambhir to take up the responsibility of head coach ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. Gavaskar also questioned the roles of India's coaching staff which includes Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate.

Recently, India's batting has come under the scanner after their disappointing performances during the Tests against New Zealand. The batters were outdone by New Zealand seamers in the first Test at Bengaluru and were then humiliated by New Zealand's spinners in Pune and Mumbai.

With the highly important Border-Gavaskar Trophy to follow, India's batting line-up will be under huge pressure to deliver. But they will be facing a tough challenge against a formidable Australian bowling attack.

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Sunil Gavaskar asks Gautam Gambhir to take up the role of batting coach

During a conversation with India Today, Sunil Gavaskar spoke about India's recent defeat to New Zealand in the Test series. Gavaskar stated that the honeymoon period of Gautam Gambhir has ended now and he needs to take up the responsibility and guide the team forward.

“The honeymoon period for Gautam Gambhir has ended. We tend to forgive the mistakes made during this period, but we now want him to step in and guide the players properly in the tour of Australia," Gavaskar said.

Gautam Gambhir has loads of experience playing Tests in Australia. India's batting has been under the pump after failing badly in the home Tests recently. They will be needed to make a quick turnaround and put up a much-improved performance against Australia.

Sunil Gavaskar questions the roles of Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate

The former India batter further questioned the roles of Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate in the coaching staff. He claimed that Gautam Gambhir has scored more runs than these two batters and hence, should take up the role of batting coach and guide the team.

"For batting...what is the role of Abhishek Nayar in the team? Is he a batting coach or an assistant coach?” Gavaskar argued.

“Gambhir has scored a lot more runs than the two (Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate), so if he can step in and guide the players on how to bat in Australian conditions and the type of approach they should take, then we can probably perform better,” he added.

Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate were induced in the Indian coaching staff during Gautam Gambhir's tenure as head coach. Both Nayar and Ten Doeschate are the assistant coaches in the team.

Poor Test season for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma

India's senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had a poor Test season recently at home. Both the batters failed miserably in the Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand, which was one of the reasons for India's failure against New Zealand.

Both the batters will be under tremendous pressure to end their run drought in the upcoming Tests against Australia. India's 0-3 defeat to New Zealand also means their chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) final are also in danger.

India needs to win at least four Tests in the upcoming five-match Test series in Australia in order to cement their place in the WTC final. It will be a tough task for Gautam Gambhir and his coaching staff to turn it around.