Following Ricky Ponting‘s comments on Virat Kohli‘s disappointing run ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India head coach Gambhir had asked him to concentrate on the Australian cricket instead. Reacting to the statement from Gambhir, ex-Australia player Brad Haddin said that Gambhir is a kind of personality who would turn up the fued into a team battle. Notably, India are set to face Australia in a five-match Test series, starting November 22 in Perth. The series is extremely crucial for the visitors as they need to win it 4-0 to qualify for the World Test Championship final without relying on external factors.
“Gambhir is a character that would use this as an us versus them mentality. And you expect your coach to stick up for the players. His reaction was quite prickly there, and you don’t need your coach to get caught up in that sort of scenario, unless his tactics is to build an us versus them. I know what the backstory. I’ll tell you; just wait till later of the week,” said Haddin on on LiSTNR podcast.
Notably, Ponting too responded to Gambhir’s comment by calling him a ‘prickly character’ and added that the India head coach’s comments were influenced by the recent Test series loss to New Zealand. Speaking on the podcast show ‘The Run Home with Joel & Fletch’, Ponting clarified that his remarks about Kohli but did not miss the opportunity to take a dig at Gambhir.
“I’m not sure if I mentioned a couple of them, but I reckon he’s just throwing me in the deep end, trying to find their two most experienced and make sure when they come out, they put that back on me,” Ponting said.
The ex-Australia captain added that he believes Gambhir misinterpreted his comments and reacted after the loss against New Zealand.
“I was asked the other night if I was concerned about Virat Kohli’s form. A day before, I had read his stats from the last five years, so it was clear in my mind. I think he made only two (three) centuries in the last five years. His average in India is now down to 30 from 90, during this period. So yes, I would be concerned. And I said if you ask him about his form, he would be concerned because it is nowhere near what it used to be. But then I said since he loves playing in Australia and has a great record here, so if there ever was a tour where he could turn things around, it would be this,” he said.
“But they never talked about the second part. Then Gambhir went and faced the press having just lost against New Zealand. The hair on the back of his neck is already standing up. We got a bit of history as well, but he took a chance to fire back at me,” he added.
