Another booing incident against Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir reportedly took place in Indore after India lost its first ODI bilateral series to New Zealand at home. Virat Kohli was shocked by the incident he saw.
India lost its second series within the last three months in international limited overs cricket. Going to Australia, Shubman Gill took over the captaincy of the ODI team from Rohit Sharma and lost his first series on Australian soil. He was then dropped from the home series against South Africa, where KL Rahul led India to a 2–1 win.
Returning as the captain of the Indian team, Gill led India for the first time on home soil against New Zealand. India started the series with a good win in Vadodara, but the next two matches revealed some strange skills from the Kiwi batting order, which also lacked many of their frontline players. Daryl Mitchell single-handedly dashed India’s hopes and won the ODI bilateral series for the first time in India.
Indore crowd raised slogans of ‘Gautam Gambhir Hae Hae Hae’, Virat Kohli was surprised!
After suffering a crushing defeat to India in Indore, the New Zealand team won its first ODI bilateral series on Indian soil. Another disgrace for Indian cricket, and that too in the era of Gautam Gambhir.
The Kiwis have undoubtedly been the biggest challenge for the Men in Blue; Be it any format of the game, series or ICC tournament, they have stood strong as a major competitor. In recent years, India won against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup 2023 semi-finals and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final.
The agitated Indian fans once again protested against Gautam Gambhir, believing that his strategies did not work again. He started booing from the stands with the slogan ‘Gautam Gambhir Hi Hi’. Such an incident has already been witnessed in Guwahati after India’s clean sweep in the Test series against South Africa.
Indian legend Virat Kohli, who played his role brilliantly with a brilliant century, was also present with Gambhir on this occasion and he was also shocked by this incident, because this legend was also witnessing such an incident with a head coach for the first time in his career. Kohli as well as all the other Indian players were shocked by this behavior of the Indian crowd.
Fans believe Kohli liked Gambhir’s insult moment
Although this incident clearly shows Virat Kohli’s indifference towards fans’ opinion, some have independently mentioned that Kohli was happy when this incident happened against Gambhir; However, he could not express it merely out of courtesy.
Everyone knows about the tension between Gautam Gambhir and many players of the Indian team, especially Virat Kohli. The two were never on the same page; However, no such incidents of mismanagement or disagreement have been reported from the Indian dressing room.
Some people also believe that Gautam Gambhir was the main mastermind behind Virat Kohli’s sudden retirement from the longest format of the game, a format he once loved the most.
IND vs NZ T20I series will be Gambhir’s last match before the T20 World Cup.
Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir has been facing allegations, criticism and many other things ever since he was appointed as the head coach of the Indian team. He has also failed from time to time and this has fueled these criticisms.
However, one format where Gambhir looks unbeatable so far is the T20I format. Therefore, the New Zealand T20I series, consisting of five matches to be played from January 21, will be their last outing before the World Cup.
A lot depends on this upcoming World Cup for Gautam Gambhir, because if India loses the ICC title defence, Gambhir’s national coaching career will be in inevitable jeopardy.
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[Disclaimer: CricketAddictor was unable to independently verify whether the video is authentic or has been doctored.]