India's Nightmare In UK: BCCI Steps In; Tough Questions Await Gambhir And Selectors

The BCCI will be organizing a review meeting of Indian team's poor show resulting in T20 series defeats against minnows Ireland and England once the ODI series gets over on July 19, according to secretary Devajit Saikia, who made it clear that the Board will not take any "knee-jerk" decisions.

The Indian team lost 0-2 against Ireland and is already down 0-3 against England with a match left on Friday.

However, it is learnt that there is no imminent threat to head coach Gautam Gambhir's future as he has a contract with the BCCI till 2027 ODI World Cup.

"The BCCI is currently observing the performance of the Indian T20 team which has not been up to the mark in the ongoing series against England," BCCI secretary Saikia told PTI on Friday from the sidelines of the ICC Annual Conference in Edinburgh..

The BCCI secretary said that it will be an overall assessment of the performance but the board won't be taking any knee-jerk reaction.

"However this is not something abnormal and can happen in international cricket. We consider it as a purely bad phase. Once the ODI series gets over on July 19 and the team comes back, we will have a review meeting with core members of the team to discuss what went wrong in England.

Since there is a ODI series, we are hoping that team will be back in good form," Saikia added.

Saikia also stressed that the review meeting will be "strictly about the performance of the team and how course correction can be done with regards to shortfalls. Nothing else will be discussed."

Under head coach Gambhir, Indian team has achieved many "unwanted firsts" including 0-3 Test whitewash and ODI series defeat at home against New Zealand and first ever T20I series defeat against Ireland.

But a potential 0-4 whitewash in T20Is against England is worse than a nightmare.

It is understood that review meeting will be attended by Gambhir, chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar.

T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer is expected to fly to Zimbabwe for the three-match series and hence there is no clarity on his availability.

Similar reviews had also taken place after New Zealand home, Australia away and SA home series debacles too.

It is only four months since India defended their T20 World Cup crown under the tutelage of Gambhir and there is no reason to believe that a double ICC Trophy winning coach will be dumped as a hot potato.

But there is another aspect that also holds true. Since that night in Ahmedabad, a lot of water had flown through both Sabarmati and the Thames making this current team under new captain Shreyas Iyer look a pale shadow of its original self.

However the former Delhi left-hander might be asked some pertinent questions about the horrendous performance of T20 squad.

Communication or lack of it?

It is true that Gambhir is not a member of the selection committee that picks the squad. But when it comes to choosing the playing eleven, the man from Delhi's Old Rajender Nagar has had the maximum say in a team that doesn't have too many superstars.

While selection committee can be panned for not selecting Sanju Samson for Zimbabwe T20 series, the question that begs an answer from Gambhir is that why would he drop Samson from the playing eleven to make space for 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, whose time would have come sooner or later.

Recently when the news of Samson's axing from the Zimbabwe-bound squad masquerading as "rested" was announced, quotes from his old interview where he said that Gambhir had told him that he will only be dropped if he had 21 zeroes had resurfaced.

Cut to India's post match conference after 76 all-out where the head coach said that he has had "conversation" with Samson and he won't reveal the contents respecting the sanctity of their meeting.

But the question that comes up is that even if there is communication, is there clarity? If someone had been told to play freely and 21 ducks won't matter and the same person is told that he is being "rested" having failed in three games post T20 World Cup? If Samson gets conflicting signals, can he be blamed for it.

Similarly second question that can be asked as to why there was no consistency in team selection during the tour. Across six T20I games in Ireland and England (including the abandoned), six different playing eleven was fielded with no two same team for any of these games.

It is a worst kept secret that Gambhir iis not on best of terms with either Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma when it comes to ODI side but these constant experiments have certainly created an air of uncertainty among players who rather than playing fearless cricket will be try to play for places in the eleven.

The third question that comes to mind is his obstinacy with a batter till No. 8, something that has been signature.

What is Washington Sundar doing in the T20 scheme of things is another polite query which begs an answer.

Former India keeper Deep Dasgupta, who is in UK as a broadcaster feels that with two years left, Gambhir and team management is allowed to look at a broader pool of players.

"Yes it is frustrating and disappointing but there's a bigger picture to look into. So there is no harm in trying players.

These young players are not used to these conditions. Suddenly pitches are different. The way you play T20 in UK is different from how you play in India.

In IPL, volume of runs in the first six overs becomes important but in England, the approach in Powerplay is more about preservation," Dasgupta said.