When BCCI Secretary Devjit Saikia was asked about his opinion on the repeated criticism that head coach Gautam Gambhir has been receiving from the Indian crowd, he gave a sarcastic response by mocking the Indian crowd as cricket experts. He emphasized that BCCI has a cricket committee to take such decisions.
India has not got the expected success in the longest format of the game and the 50-over format. India became the best Test team in the world under Virat Kohli and since then, coaches Ravi Shastri and later Rahul Dravid have helped India maintain that legacy in the red ball format.
However, ever since Gautam Gambhir has been appointed head coach of the Indian national team, he has not given the desired results to the Men in Blue in any of the longer formats. Under Gambhir’s leadership, India have also faced failure in the 50-over format of limited overs cricket.
Indian fans have criticized Gautam Gambhir for his recent struggles in Tests and ODIs
Indian fans are angry with the BCCI for helping Gautam Gambhir retain his post as the national head coach in all three formats of the game. To show their disapproval towards Gautam Gambhir, fans have booed him.
Two of the recent and most embarrassing incidents include the booing in Guwahati, where he abused the Indian head coach after the 2-0 loss against South Africa. The second incident happened recently in Indore after the ODI series loss to New Zealand.
Gautam Gambhir has often been criticized for his strange and biased team selection. Gambhir wants Gill to be a part of every format, even if he is not showing good form. They have made Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy into cricketers across formats, while players like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal and Sarfaraz Khan have been consistently overlooked.
Under Gambhir’s leadership, India won the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy but have lost several ODI series, including his first as coach against Sri Lanka, then against Australia and now against New Zealand for the first time on home soil. Therefore, Gautam Gambhir cannot be called a white ball coaching master but only a master of the T20I format.
BCCI Secretary makes fun of Indian fans, supports Gautam Gambhir in BCCI committee
In a recent interview with Sportstar, BCCI Secretary Devjit Saikia made some surprising revelations on BCCI’s plans with Gautam Gambhir and made some interesting comments on Indian cricket.
When the interviewer asked the BCCI Secretary about the various speculations about BCCI’s agenda behind retaining Gautam Gambhir in the role of head coach, Saikia replied:
“India is a country of 140 crore people, and everyone is a cricket expert. Everyone will have their own opinion. This is a democratic country, and we cannot silence anyone. All opinion makers, including the media, are free to give their opinions,” Devjit Saikia’s comment seemed to be sarcastic towards Indian fans.
He further added, “There is a lot of speculation in the domain, and various former cricketers, cricketers or others are also giving opinions. In social media, it is full of them. But the thing is that we have a cricket committee in BCCI, which are former cricketers. They are dedicated and take all the decisions.”
The secretary also informed that they have five selectors for team selection, and people take up that position after qualifying for that role. The comment comes as Indian fans and former cricketers often highlight flaws in the Indian team selection.
Saikia concluded, “For every decision, there can be a counter-opinion. So those opinions have to be addressed by us, and we have to be taken into account. But the final decision is always taken by the cricket committee as well as the selectors.”
No one can replace Gautam Gambhir until his contract expires.
Devjit Saikia’s words on this occasion have confirmed earlier claims that Gautam Gambhir is irreplaceable for the BCCI until his contract expires in 2027. Gambhir took up the role following the T20 World Cup win in 2024 and is expected to remain in South Africa until the 2027 CWC.
The 2026 ICC T20 World Cup will be his first World Cup as a head coach and second ICC tournament in the role. If Gambhir is successful in winning the title for India, then it will become the first team to defend its title. Also, Indian fans will ignore Gambhir’s other shortcomings also.
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