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Venkatesh Prasad Takes Direct Aim At Gautam Gambhir: ‘Cannot Hide Under…’ | Cricket News
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Venkatesh Prasad and Anil Kumble criticized Gautam Gambhir after India’s 2-0 Test series loss to South Africa, citing tactical errors and lack of vision amid key retirements.
Former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad (Instagram)
Former India cricketer and the newly-appointed Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) president Venkatesh Prasad took a direct aim at men’s head coach Gautam Gambhir after India’s 2-0 series defeat to South Africa. After Gambhir attributed the loss to the team’s transitional phase and a lack of batting experience, Prasand said that the team ‘cannot hide under the garb’ when the mistakes were tactical.
A 408-run defeat in Guwahati, the worst-ever in India’s Test history, marked only the third series whitewash at home for the team. Two of them have come under Gambhir, with similar issues plaguing both.
“We cannot hide under the garb of transition,” Prasad said on X. “Barring Sudarshan, Jurel and Reddy, most of the guys have been around for 7-8 years. Some very experienced campaigners. This is a series of tactical errors, obsession with playing all-rounders and not wanting to learn from mistakes. Embarrassing,” he added.
Former India captain Anil Kumble was more detailed in his criticism. Speaking on the official broadcast, he slammed the team for lacking any cohort vision.
“Test match cricket requires a different mindset, you can’t really have so many all rounders, so much chopping and changing, so many changes in the batting order, in the team itself. Every second game you have a new player coming in, couple of guys get dropped,” Kumble said.
“The past year has seen the exits of Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma from the Test arena, leaving a young group to fill massive shoes. I think India needs to sit down and think and ponder. You can’t forget these results, you need to have a discussion around how you see Indian Test cricket go forward. Stalwarts have retired in the last 6-8 months and when that happens you need to have a vision and have a conversation as to what the team has to do.”
“You can’t get players in a side and hope they will develop and grow in the team. It can’t happen, you can have 1 or 2 players like that in the line up if you have 8-9 strong players who have the experience. But you can’t have 1-2 experienced batters and bowlers and the rest of them are trying to find their feet,” he added.
India don’t play another Test series till August next year when they’ll travel to Sri Lanka for a two-Test rubber.
November 26, 2025, 16:32 IST
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