Former Indian national cricket team player Aakash Chopra has made a bold statement towards Gautam Gambhir and his coaching staff. He said the head coach and his staff cannot be blamed for the way Virat Kohli was dismissed.

Gautam Gambhir, the head coach of the Indian national cricket team, has come under a lot of scrutiny after the team’s poor performance in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The coaches and staff have been criticized, especially after the failure of the batsmen in the series.

Gautam Gambhir criticized for Virat Kohli’s failure

With senior batsman Virat Kohli and others struggling to get started, experts like Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar and others Criticized Gautam Gambhir. They feel that the manager and staff have done nothing to improve the batsmen.

Aakash Chopra points out Sanjay Manjrekar and Sunil Gavaskar’s comments about Virat Kohli has been struggling on this line and said it cannot be said that the batsmen were out because Gautam Gambhir did not solve the problem.

You can’t say Virat Kohli was out because Gautam Gambhir didn’t resolve his issues – Aakash Chopra

He explained in a video posted on his YouTube channel:

“Both Sunny bhai (Sunil Gavaskar) and Sanjay bhai (Manjrekar) said Virat Kohli’s off-field issues are a long-standing issue. They said the issue should be addressed and asked what Abhishek Nayar and Gautam Gambhir are doing as part of the coaching staff .

“When you use the word “chronic,” or you see a problem that doesn’t just exist in isolation today, the problem may have been there earlier, gone away for a while, and then came back, can you blame the person who has always been there? Coaching department? You can’t say Virat Kohli left the team because Gautam didn’t resolve his issues.”

If it’s a long-term issue – Aakash Chopra on Virat Kohli’s struggles

Aakash Chopra further said that Virat Kohli taking the ball outside was a long-standing problem that even the last coaching staff could not correct. He noted that Gambhir should not be the one to be slammed as questions should also be raised about the previous coaching set-up. He added:

“If it’s a long-term problem, like someone’s always focusing on the front foot or someone’s reaction time is slower, that’s not going to happen in six months. So if you have to pick up a gun and fire it, you have to Expect the same for the final coaching staff, but no one talks about that,”

“I’ve heard people say – ‘I’m done talking about these players. I want the coaching staff to be held accountable because these are long-term issues.'” I would say, don’t ask the current coaching staff, but Ask the previous coaching staff, because they stayed around so long they had a chance to correct those shortcomings. “

Virat Kohli, who hit a century in Perth, failed in the last four games of the series. He came off the field in a similar fashion to the ball outside and saw a lot of guys get hammered on him.

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