Indian cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir took a massive ‘social media’ dig at his critics ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Test series against Australia. Gambhir’s tactics have come under fire following India’s 0-3 Test series loss against New Zealand at home. There has been a lot of chatter over a lot of Gambhir’s strategies and media reports suggested that there was some disagreement between him and the team management over some selections. However, in the press conference ahead of the team’s departure to Australia, Gambhir said that he is not feeling the heat and put his trust on the “tough people” in the Indian dressing room.

“What difference does social media make in my life, and for anyone’s life? When I took up this job, I always knew that it was going to be a highly difficult job and a highly prestigious job as well. I don’t think as if I’m feeling the heat because my job is to be absolutely honest,” Gambhir said.

“There are some incredibly tough people in that dressing room who have achieved some great things for the country and will continue to achieve some great things for the country. So it’s an absolute honour to be coaching them and coaching India,” he added.

Gambhir has come out in the defence of senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma following criticism from former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, and said the former Aussie skipper should better think about his national team.

Ponting had recently commented on Kohli’s form, suggesting that any other player with only two centuries in five years would not have survived in the team.

Addressing the media before departing for Australia for the five-match Test series, Gambhir responded to questions regarding the form of Kohli and Rohit. Terming Ponting’s opinions on Indian cricket ‘irrelevant’, the former batter affirmed that both the big guns have a lot of passion and hunger for the team.

“Not at all…Ricky Ponting should think about Australian cricket, what concerns he has for Indian cricket? Virat and Rohit are incredibly tough men. They’ve achieved a lot for Indian cricket and they will continue to achieve a lot,” Gambhir said.

“They still work really hard. They’re still passionate. They still want to achieve a lot more and that is something which is very important. The hunger in that dressing room is incredibly important for me and for the entire group of people as well in that dressing room. I feel there’s a lot of hunger, especially after what has happened in the last series,” he further added.

(With ANI inputs)