BCCI Backs Gambhir, Slams Srikkanth For Harshit Rana Taunt: 'Before You Say...'

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president Rajeev Shukla rallied behind men’s head coach Gautam Gambhir for his criticism of cricketers-turned-YouTubers like Kris Srikkanth, who claimed

partiality among the Indian decision-makers over Harshit Rana’s selection.

Srikkanth, who is a former national selector himself and runs a YouTube channel with his son Anirudh, has repeatedly called Rana Gambhir’s ‘favorite’. The head coach called him out in a press conference in Delhi after India’s 2-0 series win over West Indies — where Rana wasn’t even a part of the squad — saying it was ‘shameful’ that a 23-year-old all-rounder was being ‘targeted’ for views and engagement.

“Gautam Gambhir is right. If someone has any complaints about the players, then it should be done responsibly. This will bring the players’ morale down. It is the job of the team to select players. So, before you say anything about the players, you should think about how much responsibility you should take,” Shukla told news agency ANI.

Rana has shone under Gambhir’s coaching, making his Test debut in Australia last year, and played his first T20 and ODI matches in the next few months.

He was excellent for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in his breakthrough years, especially 2024, when Gambhir was the franchise’s mentor and they won the title. Now, he has quickly become a regular across formats and is one of the handful of players with that designation.

The Gambhir-Srikkanth war of words

Srikkanth has often named Rana in his videos. In some, he has said that India won’t win the 2026 T20 World Cup if ‘players like Rana’ continue to be picked.

Here’s one of the recent comments: “There is only one member, Harshit Rana…nobody knows why he is there in the team. The best is to be like Harshit Rana and be a constant ‘yes man’ to Gambhir to be selected (in the side).”

This is what Gambhir said: “It’s shameful that someone wanting to run his YouTube channel is targeting a 23-year-old. If you want to target me, do it. I can handle it, but trolling a 23-year-old kid for YouTube views is shameful. His (Rana’s) father is not a selector. He has played cricket on his own merit. Don’t target these young boys.”