GG Faces Wrong End Of The Barrel

A parody site put up a seemingly convincing post from Gautam Gambhir saying he was resigning from his post as he could not tolerate what was happening to the second Test against South Africa in Guwahati. Another site declared April Fool early with a parody post from Kapil Dev that said what you are getting is what you will get if a political appointee is made the chief coach. All that may be in the kind of fun that the social media pokes at Indian cricket in the bad days in which it gets pummelled on pitches made up of Indian soil. The fact remains that the lens is on Gambhir who is staring at the wrong end of the barrel as pundits, social media humorists and cricket fans are taking aim at him. Team India is on the cusp of losing a second major series at home, this time to South Africa after having folded 3-0 against New Zealand last year. Gambhir’s way of chopping and changing the playing XIs, peculiar strategies thrust on a fledgling captain like Rishabh Pant who leads in place of the injured Shubman Gill and shuffling of the batting order are valid points being made against him. Pant’s handling of the attack on a vital and decisive morning’s play in the first Test when he opened the bowling with Axar Patel instead of Jasprit Bumrah or Mohammed Siraj was the fatal slip that has led to India losing the series to South Africa. But it is the blood of the coach that everyone is praying for. Are there any odds on GG surviving as the chief coach in the Test format?