Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has criticized Ravi Shastri for calling India the best team in the world. Shastri’s tenure as head coach ended on a pretty poor note as India bowed out of the T20 World Cup in the Super 12 stage. However, he called the team the best in the world on the basis of their performance in overseas conditions.
India won back to back Test series against Australia Down Under and also registered iconic wins on South African and English soils.
Gambhir wasn’t happy with the way Shastri went about praising this Indian team as he believes praise should be coming from others and not from the person involved in the whole process.
“The one thing I found surprising is that when you play well, you don’t usually boast about it. It’s fine if others talk about it; when we won the 2011 World Cup, no one gave statements saying that this team is the best in the world, let alone country,” Gambhir said on Times Now Navbharat.
Gambhir, who was India’s hero in the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup finals, also went on to say that such statements will never come from someone like Rahul Dravid, who has been appointed as India’s new head coach.
“When you win, let others talk about it. You won in Australia, that’s a big achievement no doubt. You won in England, performed well, no doubt. But let others praise you. You won’t hear such statements from Rahul Dravid. Whether India play good or bad, his statements will always remain balanced. Moreover, it will reflect on other players,” said Gambhir.
The former India opener said that humility is an important thing you need to inculcate in the players and we can expect that from Dravid.
“Humility is very important, whether you play good or bad. Cricket won’t go on forever. I think Dravid’s major focus will be on players being good people first,” Gambhir further said.
India whitewashed New Zealand in the three-match T20I series that concluded recently and will be heading into the two-match Test series now, which starts on 25th November in Kanpur.
