Gambhir on Leaked Dressing Room Chat: 'There Were Some Honest Words'

India's head coach Gautam Gambhir has quashed the controversy surrounding reports of leaked dressing room conversations during the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, calling it just a report not a truth.

According to report, Indian side was suffering some disquiet and even turmoil in dressing room over ongoing series with India losing 184 runs at Boxing Day Test match at Melbourne in which the team head coach was believed to tell his team at the time to say "bahut ho gaya (enough)" against the 'totally unenviable dressing room environment.

Downplaying all such claims, Gambhir addressed the press conference on the eve of the Sydney Test, saying, "Those are just reports. That's not the truth. I don't think I need to answer any reports. There were some honest words, that is what I can say. Honesty is very important. Honesty is extremely important if you want to go and achieve great things."

"Team first. It is a team sport, and everybody understands that. The debates between a player and a coach have to remain in the dressing room. Any discussion carried in the changing room stays in the change room," he added.

A report in The Indian Express on Wednesday claimed that Gambhir went on to tell the players that some of them were doing their own thing in the name of the "natural game", instead of playing shots based on the situation. The report also claims Gambhir saying he let the team do what it wanted for the "last six months" but would he now "decide" how they would play in the longer format.

It further mentioned that Gambhir is learnt to have said that going ahead, those who don't abide by his pre-decided team strategy would be given a "thank you" and that he had been deciding for inclusion of veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara, an idea shot down by the selection committee.