File photo of Gautam Gambhir.© BCCI
Gautam Gambhir’s tenure as India head coach so far has not been a memorable one for sure. It all started with India’s tour of Sri Lanka. While the visitors won the T20I series 3-0, they lost the three-match ODI series 2-0. India then thoroughly outplayed Bangladesh in a two-match Test series and a similar performance was expected from them during their three-match series against New Zealand that followed. However, what happened was the exact opposite of the expectations as the Blackcaps outplayed India in the first two Tests to take an unassailable lead of 2-0 with a match to go.
New Zealand’s dominating wins also included India’s embarrassing 46 all out that came during the first innings of the first Test in Benglauru.
While India suffered a defeat in a bilateral ODI series against Sri Lanka after 27 years, the side lost a home Test against New Zealand after 36 years. The Test series loss to New Zealand became India’s first defeat in the format in 12 years at home.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra has urged the hosts to win the third and final Test match against New Zealand. He also pointed out that Gambhir has already got some “infamous records” during his recently-started tenure as India head coach.
“Please win this match because WTC points are also involved. You will get 33% points (for the series) if you win this match. So many infamous records have already been created in Gautam Gambhir’s tenure. Then you say you don’t want to break any more records,” said Chopra on his YouTube channel.
“It’s not a dead rubber. There are two things in this. Firstly, never have we ever lost a three-match home series 3-0. We were whitewashed once in a two-match series but it has never happened in a three-match series. We are on the threshold of that record as well. Don’t break it,” he added.
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