Angry Gautam Gambhir blasts critics on India’s Dubai advantage: ‘Some people are just perpetual cribbers, man, grow up’ | Cricket News
A day after captain Rohit Sharma dismissed any talks of India being at home in Dubai and familiar with the conditions, it was the turn of their head coach Gautam Gambhir to drive home the point even when he was not questioned about it. Speaking shortly after the four-wicket win over Australia, Gambhir was not only assertive but also typically pugnacious with most of the questions put forward.
Right through the tournament which Pakistan are hosting, there have been several criticisms directed at the advantage India have gained by playing all their matches in Dubai. Now with India making it to the final, all those talks aren’t going to die down and Gambhir, who seemed bothered about it, weighed in with his thoughts in his own way.
“There’s a lot of debate about the undue advantage and all that. What undue advantage? We haven’t practiced here even for a day. We’re practicing at the ICC Academy. And the conditions there and here are 180 degrees different. If you look at the wickets there and here, the difference is between the ground and the sky. Some people are just perpetual cribbers, man. They’ve got to grow up. So, I feel that there was nothing like we had any undue advantage or we had planned something like that,” Gambhir said.
Though Australia captain Steve Smith — who spoke before Gambhir — refused to buy into the advantage argument that India were getting, former England players Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain have been critical of it. Even New Zealand, who played here on Sunday and could possibly return for the final, have downplayed all such talks.
Gambhir was then asked if India knew the conditions would be spinner-friendly in Dubai when they picked five spin bowling options, which again didn’t sit well with him.
““First of all, this is as neutral a venue for us as it is for any other team. We have not played here. I don’t remember which tournament we played in this stadium last. And in fact, we didn’t plan anything like that. The plan was that if you pick two front-line spinners in the 15-man squad, then even if we played in Pakistan or anywhere, we would have picked two front-line spinners because it was a competition on the subcontinent. So, it was nothing like we wanted to set up a spinners’ trap. If you look at it, we only played one frontline spinner in the first three matches. We only played two frontline spinners in this match or the previous match. So, it was nothing like that,” Gambhir said.
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From the moment India picked five spinners there have been several questions as to whether they picked one too many. There has also been criticism over the decision to demote KL Rahul from No 5 to 6 even as Rishabh Pant continues to warm the bench. With India now in the final, Gambhir was asked if all his decisions now seem vindicated.
“KL averages 50 in one day cricket, that’s the answer,” he would say before adding, “I don’t care about it (criticism). I don’t even care about it honestly. My job is to be honest to 140 crore Indians and to my players in the dressing room. I don’t care what people say about it, how they talk about it, whether they’ve got agendas, whether they’ve not got agendas, I don’t even care about it. If I’m honest to my job, that is all that matters and I can sleep in peace.”
“And when you talk about the spinning combination we’ve got three all-rounders in those five spinners. I don’t know why people keep forgetting about it and those three all-rounders are quality all-rounders. Actually, in the entire squad we’ve only picked two front line spinners and that is okay in a 15-member squad if you pick two front line spinners that’s not too much to be asking for,” Gambhir said.
With four wins out four in as many different pitches, India despite being tested by tough conditions have put up a strong show, ticking all their boxes. As one of New Zealand and South Africa await in the final on Sunday, Gambhir said there is still scope for improvement.
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“See, in international sport, you want to keep improving. You don’t say that you’ve ticked all the boxes. There’s always room to improve. There’s always something to improve, be it in batting, fielding, or bowling. And we still haven’t played a perfect game. We still have one more game to go. Hopefully we can play a perfect game. And that is the kind of person I am. I will never be satisfied with the performances. We want to keep improving, we want to stay humble, we want to be ruthless on the cricket field but absolutely humble off the field as well. That’s the kind of team environment and that’s the kind of culture we want to create in that dressing room and be absolutely honest. So hopefully we can play one more game and play our best game.”
