IND Vs SA 2nd Test: Gautam Gambhir Questions Team’s Approach Following 408-Run Defeat

Gautam Gambhir didn't blame any individual for the debilitating 408-run defeat against South Africa in the second Test but dropped enough hints that he was livid with India's stand-in skipper Rishabh Pant for "playing to the gallery".

Gambhir's par-for-the course fiery post-match press conference had one anomaly though -- the India head coach was a bundle of contradictions through and through those 15 odd minutes.

India were 95 for one, but things went downhill from thereon with the hosts left stuttering at 122 for seven, largely due to Marco Jansen's exploits with the red cherry.

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Pant gave charge to Jansen when he needed to show some discretion, and that shot possibly was the worst of all the dismissals.

After the 0-2 series defeat, Gambhir was asked if he would have expected better from Pant, who is now one short of 50 Test matches.

"You don't blame one individual shot. You don't blame one individual playing in a certain way. You blame everyone. So, me talking about an individual, I've never done that. I am not going to do it," Gambhir said in a no-nonsense manner after fronting up at the media conference.

He was very clear that he didn't want to "brush things under the carpet".

"The reality is, we still need to improve a lot in red ball cricket. Whether it's mentally, whether it's technically, whether it's absorbing pressure, whether it's sacrificing, whether it's putting the team ahead of your individual self. And most importantly, not playing for the gallery," his answer was anyone's guess that he was talking about Pant.

But when a senior reporter asked how does one fix the quantum of accountability, his reply didn't leave any room for playing the guessing game.

"It comes from care. What you care about the dressing room, how much you care about the dressing room and the team. Because accountability and the game situation can never be taught," Gambhir said.

"... Ultimately when you go in, if you keep putting the team ahead of your own self, not thinking that this is how I play, and this is how I will get the results, and this is how I play, I don't want to play the second, I don't have plan B. So, sometimes, you will get these kind of collapses as well," the head coach's statement could have only been pointed at one man.

"How much you care about Indian cricket and how much you care about the team and people sitting in the dressing room is important as well," he couldn't have been more precise with his response.

'People who do well in white ball shouldn't forget what they did in red ball' Gambhir spoke about prioritising red ball cricket, citing examples of playing domestic cricket when free as a matter of policy.

"Come the white ball formats, if you get runs in white ball formats, suddenly you forget about what you have done in red ball cricket. That should never happen.

"You know, first and foremost, people who do well in white ball cricket should not forget what they've done in red ball cricket. Very easily, media, us, fans, everyone stops forgetting about what they've done in Test cricket," he said, his both statements in contrast to each other.

"And I don't want to forget it. To be honest, we go forward, we've got a lot of white ball cricket. If someone gets a 40 ball, 50 or 80 ball 100, the reality is that we still need to keep getting better in red ball cricket," he said in another contradictory remark.

Asked if he has understood where India lost the second Test, he immediately cited the collapse that happened on the third afternoon.

"Yeah, absolutely. I just said it. From 95/1 to 122/7, I'm sure that is not technical. That is more mental and that is about how much you care for the dressing room and how much Test cricket means to all of us in that dressing room."

Gambhir did blame the scheduling where the squad played two Tests against West Indies, went to Australia for a white ball series and within four days of playing the last T20I, were up in whites against South Africa. For Gambhir, this kind of scheduling affects planning.

"Look, obviously scheduling does make a difference. Imagine three days back, three days before the start of the first Test match, we were in Australia. And suddenly you come back from there and you have to join a Test team and you have got two days to plan with the Test side."

"But that again is not an excuse. And I am not going to give that excuse as well. Sometimes we can probably prioritise this better," he said.