India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has come out strongly in defence of head coach Gautam Gambhir after the team's 30-run defeat to South Africa in the first Test at Kolkata.
The loss, India's fourth at
home in the past year under Gambhir, triggered widespread criticism-something Kotak believes has gone far beyond fair analysis.
Kotak, speaking ahead of the second Test in Guwahati, made it clear that the intensity of the reaction has been troubling for the support staff. "'Gautam Gambhir, Gautam Gambhir' (criticism) is being done. I am saying this because I am a staff and I feel bad. That's not the way," he said, stressing that some of the commentary seemed to stem from motives unrelated to cricket. "Maybe some people individually have agendas. Good luck to them, but it is very bad," he added.
The defeat at Eden Gardens came on a surface that behaved unusually from the opening day, offering uneven bounce with several deliveries kicking off the deck even from fuller lengths. Gambhir had taken responsibility for the conditions after the match, but Kotak offered a different perspective on how the pitch ended up.
"See, in the last match wicket, Gautam said that he took all the blame on himself. He said that he took the blame because he felt that he should not put the blame on the curators," Kotak said. He explained that the track deteriorated far earlier than anticipated. "Now, what happened in the last match, after a day, it felt like it was crumbling. There was a little bit of soil [that came up after the ball pitched]. All of you can see that. That was not expected. Even if the spin was expected, it was after 3 days or on the third day in the evening. Sometimes, the weather, sometimes, even the curators did not want it. I am telling you the truth. No one wanted it to be like this. "
South Africa, defending just 124, bowled India out for 93 in the second innings to seal the Test inside three days. Gambhir, after the loss, had maintained that the pitch was exactly what India had asked for and pointed towards batting failures rather than preparation issues.
India now head into the Guwahati Test trailing 0-1, needing a win to avoid a rare home series defeat. South Africa, meanwhile, are eyeing their first Test series victory in India since 2000.
