Gautam Gambhir the Test coach should not be let off the hook after India's heroic fightback in England

When it comes to the Indian cricket team and its fans, all is forgiven if the Men in Blue are winning. Whether in ICC events such as the T20 World Cup or the Champions Trophy, or a high-profile Test series such as the five-match rubber in England that concluded 2-2 in thrilling fashion at The Oval on Monday .

The Indian cricket community has every right to celebrate Gill and Co’s superb performance in England, from the dominant 336-run victory at Edgbaston to their incredible comebacks in the high-scoring draw at Old Trafford and thrilling six-run victory at The Oval , the latter masterminded by pacers Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna.

Also Read | Siraj: The emotional heart for India in spicy Test series who relentlessly came at England when all seemed lost

That, however, should not take the attention away from some of the issues that continue to plague the team.

Question mark continues to hang over Gambhir the Test coach

Gambhir has experienced a fair amount of white-ball success since he succeeded Rahul Dravid as India head coach in July last year, with the Indian team winning the Champions Trophy earlier this year and extending their dominant run in T20Is since then.

India, however, had also experienced its worst slump in Test cricket under his watch, starting with a historic 0-3 whitewash against New Zealand at home that was followed by a 1-3 defeat in Australia, which resulted in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy slipping out of India’s grasp for the first time in eight years.

The BCCI responded to India’s sudden Test decline with a series of tough measures – from making domestic participation compulsory for all players, including seniors, to banning private travel and limiting the presence of family members on tours.

And in due time, mounting pressure on seniors such as Rohit and Kohli, once integral to the team across formats, resulted in the two stalwarts calling it quits in five-day cricket nearly a year after they bid Twenty20 Internationals a triumphant goodbye.

Gambhir and his hand-picked backroom staff – assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate and bowling coach Morne Morkel – however, largely escaped punishment during this turbulent phase. Well, not the other assistant coach, Abhishek Nayar, who was sacked by the BCCI in April along with fielding coach T Dilip , although the latter had been reinstated for the England tour.

So while Gambhir can claim some credit for India’s heroics in their tour of England, the fact remains that some key decisions by the Indian team – which could not have been made without his nod – backfired badly and could have resulted in a vastly different scoreline.

Strange decisions nearly cost India the series in England

India’s selection policy, after all, has been questionable throughout the course of the series, and the biggest talking point on this topic was the absence of left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav throughout the course of the tour, despite several greats of the game calling for him to be given at least one chance.

The visitors stuck with left-handed batting all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar ever since the latter was drafted into the XI for the second Test at Edgbaston. That the two were barely utilised for their spin in the series finale at The Oval and bowled a total of 10 overs between them across both innings certainly makes one wonder if they were picked as pure batters in the first place.

A similar statement could be made regarding handing Anshul Kamboj his international debut in Manchester at a time when India were trailing the series 1-2 and needed a strong response, especially on the bowling front.

Kamboj certainly has potential and has been impressive in the Indian Premier League and in domestic cricket, but to say that he looked pedestrian as England piled on 669 at Old Trafford wouldn’t be too harsh an assessment. A similar opinion could be formed about all-rounder Shardul Thakur, who played the first and fourth Tests without making much of an impact either with bat or ball.

That Gambhir appeared defensive during press conferences when facing hard-hitting questions, or got into a war of words with the head curator at The Oval ahead of the series finale, did him little favour with the public still largely harbouring a negative perception with regards to his coaching style.

Heads are likely to roll in the coming months, and after Nayar in April, it will likely be the turn of ten Doeschate and Morkel to part ways with the team , with the BCCI reportedly likely to bring in new faces into the back-room staff ahead of the home Test season.

Gambhir, though, is likely to escape sanction once again, thanks primarily to the face-saving fightbacks in the last two games in England. And even though he sported a smile after the victory at The Oval and even posted a defiant message on X , ‘GG’ knows all too well deep inside that he continues to tread on mighty thin ice and that he could be shown the door in the Test arena sooner rather than later.