Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has been critical of the Indian cricketing system at present. Having blamed lack of leaders in the team as one of the reasons behind the youngsters’ struggle to step up, Yuvi recently questioned the credentials of batting coach Vikram Rathore, especially in a year of T20 World Cup.
Yuvraj had expressed doubt over Rathore’s ability to help the Indian batsmen when it comes to T20 cricket considering the latter doesn’t have much experience at the international stage and is totally anonymous to the shortest format. Gambhir, however, isn’t in agreement with Yuvraj’s take on the subject.
“It’s not important that you have played a lot of cricket, for you to be a very successful coach – probably, that’s right for a selector, but not for a coach,” Gambhir said on Star Sports’ Cricket Connected show. “Probably you can just have a different T20 batting coach, just for that particular format. It is really not true that someone who hasn’t played international cricket or who hasn’t played enough cricket, can’t become a successful coach.”
“What ultimately a coach does in a T20 format is frees your mindset and feeds your mindset and make you hit those goals and those big shots. No one teaches you how to hit a lap shot or a reverse lap shot, no coach can do that. If someone is trying to do that to a player, he is harming him more than actually making him a better player,” Gambhir asserted.
Since taking over the job of batting coach from Sanjay Bangar, Rathore has impressed many in the Indian cricket fraternity, especially with regards to the No. 4 spot in the Indian team that had been a problem area under Bangar’s regime.
