Gautam Gambhir Not Spared After Ireland Loss. Slammed By Iceland Cricket, Sanjay Manjrekar

India head coach Gautam Gambhir has become the critics' favourite punching bag after the national team was swept in the two-match series against Ireland. India, who entered the series as heavy favourites, were beaten in both matches as Ireland completed a whitewash against Shreyas Iyer's men. The nature of the defeat has given critics plenty of ammunition to target the Indian team, from Iyer's elevation as skipper in place of Suryakumar Yadav to the decisions made by head coach Gambhir regarding team selection.

As the reigning T20 World Champions suffered a humiliating series loss, Gambhir became the focal point of criticism on social media. Pouncing on the trend, Iceland Cricket mocked the India head coach on social media, stating they would not want him on their coaching staff given the "results" he achieved in Ireland.

"We can confirm that we do not wish to add Gautam Gambhir to our coaching staff. He clearly has talent, though. To take those Indian players and deliver those results in Ireland takes truly remarkable gifts," Iceland Cricket wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Sanjay Manjrekar, the former India batter, took a more analytical approach to break down the deficiencies in Gambhir's strategy. He argued that India need a pure middle-order batter rather than overloading the team with part-time all-rounders.

His post read: "It was too little earlier… under Gambhir, it is too many. The 'all-rounders'. India need a PURE middle-order batter, pronto!"

During a panel discussion on the broadcaster's post-match show, Manjrekar also highlighted how Indian batters lack the depth required to excel on pitches that offer assistance to bowlers, contrasting them with the batter-friendly pitches typically rolled out in India. For Manjrekar, Shubman Gill is precisely the type of batter India need to succeed in challenging conditions.

"Shubman Gill... just for people to understand, this is a guy who is a T20 batter now and had a tremendous IPL as well. I'm not talking about captaincy, but these are the players you slowly want to introduce back into T20 cricket because they have a little more depth in conditions like these, and are used to them as well, like we saw when he played in England and overseas. So, that is the path for Shubman Gill going forward; it won't be right now, but it will start to happen slowly," Manjrekar said during the discussion.

India will now shift their focus to the T20I series against England, which begins on July 1.

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