Gautam Gambhir urges people to tone down criticism for India

After another batting debacle, India found themselves at the receiving end as South Africa sealed the series 2-0 after their 135-run victory in the second Test at Centurion. This was Virat Kohli’s first series loss as captain and a lot of criticism came down on the skipper, management and the players for an underwhelming performance.

It was no news that this series would be the real challenge for Kohli and the No. 1 Test side as their winning streak came after schooling oppositions during the long home season or against sides like Windies and Sri Lanka that have been on a decline, especially in Test cricket.

However, criticism from veterans and fans arises with few topics in particular. For example, the selections made for the Playing XI, leaving out vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane in both the tests, leaving KL Rahul out in the Cape Town Test and leaving out Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the Centurion Test especially after a stunning all-round performance in the first Test. People have also questioned why the BCCI was adamant about playing continuous series against Sri Lanka when the team needed more practice time to prepare for the Proteas challenge.

However, Gautam Gambhir emerges as one of those people who is trying to explain fans and viewers, in general, to tone down the criticism and not to forget that it was the same side that was unbeatable for a year. He took to Twitter to say, “Its time to show support for Indian team and not being over-the-top critical. This was the team that had such a fabulous run, two games don’t make them bad. Rather than being severe on our boys, let’s just give credit to d opposition @BCCI. Simple: Well played @OfficialCSA.”

Even though it is understandable where Gambhir’s message comes from and he is only addressing those who are overly critical and harsh after the loss, most of the talk on social media is more about how problematic the decisions of the think-tank, the captain and the batting performances have been and credit has also been given to where it is due.