Former cricketer Yograj Singh has backed India head coach Gautam Gambhir and claimed that he should not be criticised, considering he is performing his role "well".
Under Gambhir's watch, India basked in its first Test victory at Edgbaston after controlling the flow at England's dominion with a captivating brand of cricket. Before the conclusion of the final day of the second Test, India stamped its authority with a resounding 336-run victory on Sunday.
Before the Shubman Gill-led troops scripted a famed story of success in Birmingham, Gambhir was under fire for India's abysmal run in the longest format of cricket. Yograj, who hopes that India returns home with a series win, believes Gambhir shouldn't feel the wrath of the critics.
"Indian players are consistently growing and improving their game. We will support them always. We should not speak about Gautam Gambhir because he is doing well," Yograj told ANI.
Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, and Rahul Dravid are giving back to cricket because they have received so much. Even if our team loses the series, we should not demoralise them. If you lose, you will not be there to explain; if you win, you don't have to explain. We hope that we win the series under the captaincy of Shubman Gill," he added.
Gambhir found himself surrounded by questions about India's form in Test format, after his side allowed England to escape with a five-wicket victory in the series opener in Leeds, before levelling the series at 1-1 in Birmingham.
Yograj also spoke of his son Yuvraj's reaction to captain Shubman Gill's blistering performance with the bat, which steered India to its first Test win at Edgbaston.
Yuvraj, who serves as Gill's mentor.
"I called him yesterday, and I congratulated him (Yuvraj). He replied, 'No, he (Shubman Gill) has also worked hard'. If there were another coach, then he would have taken the credit. But he didn't do that. He said Shubman has worked hard. I am just the support system," Yograj added.
Gill took the onus of pushing India's score, especially after his side endured two collapses at the tail in Leeds. He played the captain's knock and broke records for fun en route to a swashbuckling 269(387). In his second turn, when a belligerent approach was the need of the hour, Gill tantalised England's inexperienced pace attack with 161(162), scoring almost at a strike rate of 100.
With 430 runs across both innings, Gill has the second-highest aggregate of runs in a single Test, behind England's Graham Gooch, who had an output of 456 runs after scoring 333 and 123 against India at Lord's back in 1990.
With the series perfectly poised at 1-1 after the conclusion of the first two Tests, India and England will fight for the right to take the lead in the third contest of the series, which is scheduled to kick off on Thursday.
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