NEW DELHI: India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has expressed strong displeasure over the criticism directed at head coach Gautam Gambhir after India’s defeat to South Africa in the opening Test in Kolkata. He said some of the criticism appears to come from people with personal motives.India lost the Kolkata Test by 30 runs. It was their fourth home Test defeat in the past year under Gambhir.“‘Gautam Gambhir, Gautam Gambhir’ (criticism) is being done. I am saying this because I am a staff and I feel bad. That’s not the way,” Kotak said on Thursday ahead of the second Test starting Saturday.
He said some of the reactions were agenda-driven.“Maybe some people individually have agendas. Good luck to them, but it is very bad,” the former Saurashtra player said.Kotak also contradicted Gambhir’s assessment of the Eden Gardens pitch, saying that “no one wanted it (pitch) to be like this.The surface had variable bounce from Day 1, with some deliveries rising sharply even from fuller lengths.“See, in the last match wicket, Gautam said that he took all the blame on himself. He said that he took the blame because he felt that he should not put the blame on the curators,” Kotak said. “Now, what happened in the last match, after a day, it felt like it was crumbling. There was a little bit of soil [that came up after the ball pitched]. All of you can see that. That was not expected. Even if the spin was expected, it was after 3 days or on the third day in the evening. Sometimes, the weather, sometimes, even the curators did not want it. I am telling you the truth. No one wanted it to be like this.”South Africa defended 124 and bowled India out for 93 in the second innings to complete a 30-run win inside three days.After the match, Gambhir defended Eden Gardens curator Sujan Mukherjee and pointed to his batters’ failure to handle the conditions.“This is exactly the pitch we were looking for. The curator was very, very helpful and supportive. This is exactly what we wanted and this is exactly what we got. When you don’t play well, this is what happens,” Gambhir had said.India trail 0-1 and must win in Guwahati to level the two-Test series. South Africa, the current World Test Champions, are chasing their second Test series victory in India and their first since 2000.
