Ravi Shastri defends head coach Gautam Gambhir despite India's Test series loss to New Zealand: 'He'll soon learn'

Former India coach Ravi Shastri has come out in support of current head coach Gautam Gambhir following India’s Test series defeat to New Zealand on Saturday. New Zealand clinched a 113-run win over India in the second Test in Pune on Saturday, thus completing a historic Test series victory over India with a match to spare.

This is India’s first Test series defeat at home since 2012, when they had lost to Alastair Cook’s England. Gautam Gambhir and India captain Rohit Sharma have been criticised for making tactical errors across the two Tests against New Zealand, but Ravi Shastri has backed the former, saying that Gambhir will learn from his mistakes.

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“New Zealand have beaten them handsomely in both the Test matches. It’s food for thought. He (Gambhir) has just taken over the job. It’s never easy being the coach of a team that has such a big following. It’s still early days in his career as a coach. But he’ll soon learn,” Shastri said on JioCinema.

Gambhir had taken over as India head coach from Rahul Dravid in July, and his first assignment was India’s tour of Sri Lanka later that month. While the Men in Blue completed a 3-0 clean sweep in the T20I series, Sri Lanka beat India 2-0 to clinch their first ODI series victory over India in 27 years.

In the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru, India suffered a big setback for their decision to bat first in overcast conditions. India were all out for 46, their lowest Test score at home. New Zealand replied with a first innings total of 402. Even though the batters led by Sarfaraz Khan (150), Rishabh Pant (99), Virat Kohli (70) and Rohit Sharma (52) scripted a fightback in the second innings to take India to 462, the lead was not big enough to defend, as the Kiwis chased down 107 with eight wickets to spare.

In the second Test in Pune, India’s batters came under scrutiny for their inability to play spinners. Looking to chase down 359 on Day three, India were all out for 245, with Mitchell Santner taking six wickets . Yashasvi Jaiswal (77) was India’s top-scorer. The third and final Test match will be played in Mumbai from 1 November.