"What's wrong in being in this position?": Gautam Gambhir's shocking take on Test series loss to NZ

India head coach Gautam Gambhir spoke to the media about India's shocking defeat to New Zealand at Pune. Despite the series defeat, Gambhir backed his team to turn it around in the third Test in Mumbai.

India suffered a shocking defeat in the second Test at Pune to concede a rare Test series defeat at home. They had earlier lost the first Test in Bengaluru as well. It was India's first Test series loss at home in 12 years.

The defeat expectedly brought huge criticism from all the factions as the players' performance was under the scanner. Senior batters like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were heavily criticized for their continuous dry run in the format.

Also read: Huge blow for India: Jasprit Bumrah returns home before Mumbai Test; out of 3rd match

Gautam Gambhir backs Team India to turn it around in Mumbai Test

While speaking to the reporters on the eve of the third Test in Mumbai, Gautam Gambhir argued that such defeats would help the players improve. He also insisted that playing an aggressive brand of cricket will bring such kinds of defeats.

“I am not going to sugarcoat that it is hurting. It should hurt and that will make us better. What is wrong in being in this position? I am sure this will push the youngsters to be better cricketers. If we have results like Kanpur, might as well have results like this and keep moving forward,” Gautam Gambhir said.

The India head coach also refused to put all the blame on the team's batting unit and claimed that everyone had the responsibility. “Everyone has the responsibility. I cannot say just the batters have let us down,” he added.

India's continuous batting failures

The Indian batting line-up has been a huge disappointment for some time now. Apart from a few, the other players are clearly struggling for runs. Senior batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have failed to create any impact in this series so far.

Not only the batting, but the failure of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to weave their magic has been a big reason for India's struggles. The spin duo of Ashwin and Jadeja has been lethal and led India to many wins over the years. But both of them have been far from their best in this series.

Gautam Gambhir breaks silence on Mumbai pitch

When asked about the pitch at Wankhede Stadium, Gautam Gambhir denied giving any proper reply and claimed that the nature of the pitch would be decided once both the teams had played on it.

“It is just a good wicket. Very difficult for anyone to judge before both teams have batted on it,” the former India opener said.

The pitch has been a big point of discussion in this series. While the pitch in Bengaluru assisted seam bowling, the Pune pitch assisted the spinners. New Zealand's bowlers showed a tremendous ability to adapt to both surfaces and keep Indian batters under pressure.

The pitch in Mumbai is expected to provide assistance for the spinners but will have a bounce as well. The red soil in Mumbai makes the surface even and there is consistent bounce throughout the match.