Asserting that “debates” in the dressing room should not come out in public domain, India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Thursday said he has had some “honest” conversations with his players as only performance can help them stay in the set-up. Amid reports of unrest in the dressing room, Gambhir sought to douse the fire by declaring that they were “just reports, not truth”. “Debates between coach and player should remain in dressing room. Stern words. They were just reports not truth,” Gambhir said in the pre-match press meet ahead of India’s fifth and final Test against Australia, beginning here on Friday.
“Indian cricket will be in safe hands till honest people stay in the dressing room. Only thing that keeps you in the dressing room is performance. There were honest words and honesty is important,” he added.
Gambhir also said he did not have any discussion with senior batter Virat Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma except for strategies on how to win the Test matches.
“Every individual knows what are areas to work on. We have only had one conversation with them (and that is) how to win Test matches,” he said.
Gambhir also confirmed that pacer Akash Deep will miss the New Year Test with a stiff back, though he refrained from naming a replacement for him.
India will take on Australia in the final match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3. Australia lead 2-1 and could retain the BGT for the first time after 2014/15 if they manage to avoid defeat at MCG.
India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, Tanush Kotian, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana.
(With Added Inputs)
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