New Delhi: After Team India completed a 2-0 Test series sweep over a struggling West Indies team on Tuesday, head coach Gautam Gambhir lashed out at former captain and chairman of selectors Kris Srikkanth at the post-match press conference.
Without taking any name, Gambhir said that people should be ashamed that they are targeting 23-year-old cricketers (like Harshit Rana) just to get views on their YouTube channel.
The tirade was obviously meant for Srikkanth, like Gambhir an ex-India opening batter.
Srikkanth had earlier joked on his YouTube channel that fast bowler Rana is the first name on the teamsheet in the Gambhir-coached side.
As Srikkanth’s quip went viral on social media, a section of netizens trolled Rana for being the coach’s ‘favourite player’.
Gambhir made no bones about his feelings, as he made the point that it was not fair to target 23-year-olds who merit a place in the national team.
“Look, it’s a little shameful and I will be very honest with you. If you are criticising 23-year-olds to run your YouTube channel, that is unfair. His father is not an ex-chairman, or ex-cricketer or an NRI. He has played cricket on his own merit and he will continue to do so. Targeting individuals is not fair. Target people on their performance, and selectors are there for that job. If you say horrible things about a 23-year-old on social media, what does that do to his mindset?” Gautam Gambhir said.
He wasn’t done.
“If your kid plays cricket tomorrow, imagine a scenario where he gets abused. He is a 23-year-old kid, and not 33. Criticise me, I can handle it, but he is a 23-year-old boy, so that is something not acceptable. There should be a moral responsibility towards Indian cricket and you should not do these things to help run your YouTube channel. This is not only in Harshit’s case, this is for others in future also,” Gambhir continued.
Besides Rana, Srikkanth also raised questions on Nitish Kumar Reddy’s inclusion in the ODI squad for the upcoming series in Australia.
“Where did Nitish Kumar Reddy come from? If you ask them (selectors), they’ll say he’s Hardik Pandya’s replacement. But the actual replacement for Hardik is Ravindra Jadeja, not Reddy,” Srikkanth had remarked.
“Reddy will get clobbered in Australia in ODIs. If you’re picking him as an allrounder, it’s not fair. He’s just a batsman who can bowl a bit. He wasn’t even part of the Champions Trophy team or in the ODI scheme of things. They’ve somehow squeezed him into the squad,” Srikkanth observed.
Both Reddy and Rana played in the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2024-25 season. Rana bagged 4 wickets in his debut Test, and Rana was among the team’s top run-scorers, including a century at Melbourne.