Gautam Gambhir Counters Yuvraj Singh On His Statement Against Vikram Rathour

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir countered ex all-rounder Yuvraj Singh on his statement against national batting coach Vikram Rathour. Yuvraj was critical of Vikram Rathour while suggesting, he has not played enough international cricket, to coach the T20 generation of cricketers.

Vikram Rathour took over from Sanjay Bangar as the batting coach of Team India. He has played merely six Tests and seven One-Day Internationals (ODIs) for India at the international level, though he has the experience of playing 146 first-class matches and scored at an impressive average of 49.66.

“He (Rathour) is my friend … do you think he can help players of this T20 generation? Has he played cricket at the level to help them?” Yuvraj, who was part of the 2007 World T20 and 2011 World Cup-winning teams, said during an Instagram session.

Gautam Gambhir: Don’t think it’s important to have played a lot of cricket to be successful coach

Cricketer turned politician Gautam Gambhir firmly believes it is not important to have played a lot of cricket to be a very successful coach as he came out to defend Vikram Rathour and subtly counter Yuvraj Singh. Gambhir also said the team can have a different coach for the shortest format.

“It’s not important that you have played a lot of cricket, for you to be a very successful coach – probably, that’s right for a selector, but not for a coach,” Gambhir said on Star Sports’ Cricket Connected show.

“Probably you can just have a different T20 batting coach, just for that particular format. It is really not true that someone who hasn’t played international cricket or who hasn’t played enough cricket, can’t become a successful coach.”

Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir were heroes for India in the 2011 World Cup final. While Gambhir scored an instrumental knock in the final, Yuvraj was adjudged the man-of-the-series for his all-round performance.