Indian National Cricket Team’s star wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant has given a brutally honest verdict on former and current national coach Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir.
Rahul Dravid had a very successful tenure with the Indian team as after reaching multiple ICC finals, the Men in Blue finally managed to lift the World Cup and end the ICC trophy drought.
Under Dravid, India played the finals of ICC World Test Championship 2023 and ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 against Australia. Even though India suffered heartbreaking defeats in both these matches, Rahul Dravid did not give up.
Dravid received a contract extension from the BCCI after the ODI World Cup final defeat, giving him one last chance to win the trophy with the team in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. The duo of Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma worked hard for the tournament. and came up with good game plans which helped them win the final against South Africa and lift the T20 World Cup trophy.
When the T20 World Cup ended, Rahul Dravid’s contract with the BCCI ended and he parted ways with the Indian team. To replace him, the BCCI considered several options but settled on Gautam Gambhir, who had no prior coaching experience.
It should be noted that Gautam Gambhir worked as a mentor for Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, but he did not work as a head coach of any team before starting his job in India. Still, BCCI trusted him and signed a contract until 2027.
Gautam Gambhir has so far featured in two series with the Indian National Cricket Team and got the chance to work with the dynamic wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant.
Gautam Gambhir is very one-sided that you have to win – Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant, after spending quality time with both the coaches, shared his verdict on the duo. Speaking on JioCinema ahead of the Duleep Trophy 2024 where he represented India B, Rishabh Pant made it clear that both Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir are very different as the former is quite balanced while the latter is quite aggressive.
Pant added that India’s newly-appointed head coach was too “one-sided” to win, but he stressed the importance of maintaining a balanced approach.
“I feel Rahul bhai was very balanced as a person and coach. It can be both good and bad. There are pros and cons and it depends on where people want to focus. Ghauti bhai (Gambhir) is more aggressive, he is very one-sided that you have to win. But the right balance needs to be found and refined,” said Pant.
Rishabh Pant returned to red ball cricket on Thursday, September 5, participating in the Duleep Trophy 2024. Red ball cricket is tagged as the best format for Pant, but he was disappointed with his Day 1 performance. Rishabh Pant scored just 7 runs off 10 balls, dismissed by Akash Deep as Shubman Gill took the blinder. take out the goalie-press.
After the first round of the Duleep Trophy, Rishabh Pant will be seen in the home Test series against the Bangladesh National Cricket Team where he will don the whites for India after a very long time. Given the number of Test matches the Rohit Sharma-led side will play, he will be a crucial member of the Indian team in the coming months.
