"Gambhir has scored a lot more runs than the two"- Sunil Gavaskar takes shot at India's assistant coaches ahead of 2024-25 BGT

Cricket Players Practice Session Before 3rd Match Of New Zealand Vs India Test Series - Source: Getty

Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar took a dig at the side's assistant coaches Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate while assessing India's batting frailties ahead of the highly-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under. Team India struggled massively with the bat in the recently concluded home Test series against New Zealand.

Rohit Sharma's men failed to cross 200 in three of the six innings, resulting in a shocking 0-3 whitewash at the hands of the Black Caps. Head coach Gautam Gambhir's support staff includes Nayar and Ten Doeschate. Yet, there is a lack of clarity on the duo's exact role within the setup.

In an interaction with India Today, Gavaskar called on Gambhir to guide the Indian batters in Australia by seemingly targeting his two assistant coaches.

"For batting...what is the role of Abhishek Nayar in the team? Is he a batting coach or an assistant coach? Gambhir has scored a lot more runs than the two, so if he can step in and guide the players on how to bat in Australian conditions and the type of approach they should take, then we can probably perform better," he said.

Gambhir had a stellar international career, scoring 10,324 runs with 20 centuries in 242 outings. The left-hander played a key role in India's 2007 T20 and 2011 ODI World Cup title runs.

As for Nayar and Ten Doeschate, the former played only three ODIs for India and did not score a run (was never dismissed), while the latter scored over 2,000 runs in ODIs and T20Is for the Netherlands.

"The honeymoon period for Gautam Gambhir has ended" - Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar said Gautam Gambhir's 'honeymoon' is over and called on him to deliver the goods from the upcoming Australia series onwards.

Since taking over as India's head coach, Gambhir has endured a mixed bag with the side winning the Sri Lanka T20Is and Bangladesh Tests but suffering 0-2 and 0-3 defeats in the ODI and Test series to Sri Lanka and New Zealand, respectively.

"The honeymoon period for Gautam Gambhir has ended. We tend to forgive the mistakes made during this period, but we now want him to step in and guide the players properly in the tour of Australia," Gavaskar said in the same interview.

Gambhir took over from Rahul Dravid after the latter helped India win the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA.

Meanwhile, the five-Test India-Australia series Down Under will begin in Perth on November 22.