India Trails 1-0 in Test Series as Pressure Mounts on Head Coach Gautam Gambhir

The Indian team lost the first match of the two-Test series between India and South Africa. Head coach Gautam Gambhir is under tremendous attack after the recent failures of the team in Test matches. However, batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has pointed out a different reason. The Indian team trails 1-0 in the Test series against South Africa, with the second match starting in Guwahati on Saturday. Kotak termed Gambhir's criticism an agenda.

Sitanshu Kotak said, "Head coach Gautam Gambhir is being criticized after Team India's defeat. As a member of the coaching team, I feel bad about this. I understand that some reactions are driven by an agenda. Some people may have their own agendas. Good luck to them, but this is not right." Targeting the players, he asked, "Why is Gambhir being singled out when the players are not performing well? No one is saying that the batsmen or bowlers performed poorly." Kotak stated that the coaching staff is working on improving the batting, and results will be seen soon.

It should be noted that Gautam Gambhir also blamed the Indian players after the defeat in Kolkata. Although there was considerable uproar over the pitch, Gambhir blamed the players' poor performance instead of blaming the curator for the pitch. The batting coach also praised Gambhir's statement, saying that Gautam took the blame on himself without saying anything to the curator.

It's worth noting that the Indian team has performed poorly in Tests since Gautam Gambhir became head coach. Team India suffered its first home defeat against New Zealand, losing 0-3. Subsequently, they lost the series 1-3 on the Australia tour and were eliminated from the World Test Championship final. Before this, the Indian team had participated in both WTC finals. Team India's performance on the England tour was also poor, with the five-match series ending in a 2-2 draw.