Paine Raises Concern Over Coach Gambhir’s Ability to Stay Calm Under Pressure for India

Former Australia Test skipper Tim Paine has voiced his alarm at India head coach Gautam Gambhir's recent remarks against Ricky Ponting, saying the biggest concern for the visitors in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy could be his inability to stay calm under pressure.

Ponting had said he was concerned about Virat Kohli's form – of scoring two Test hundreds in the last five years. But Gambhir shot back in the pre-departure press conference, saying, 'What does Ponting have to do with Indian cricket? He should be talking about Australia'. It led to Ponting saying Gambhir is a prickly customer.

"I don't love it. It's not a good sign I think, because all he was asked was a very simple question. I think he's maybe looking at Ricky still as someone he's playing against, but Ricky is a commentator now - he's paid to give an opinion, and his opinion was spot on."

"Virat has been sliding, it is a concern, absolutely. But for me now, the biggest concern for India right now isn't Rohit Sharma's batting, isn't Virat Kohli's batting, it's their coach and his ability to stay calm under pressure," Paine said while speaking on SEN Radio.

The five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series is set to begin in Perth on November 22 before the matches are played in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth. Paine also thinks that former head coach Ravi Shastri, who led India to two successive Test series victories in Australia, provided his side with a bounty of energy through his light-hearted nature, which he feels Gambhir does not possess.

"Their last two series wins out here they had Ravi Shastri, who was fantastic. He created a great environment, the players were energised, they played with passion; he sold them the dream and motivated them in a really light-hearted enjoyable way."

Now that they've gone to a new coach who is really prickly, really competitive-and that's not to say that's not a good thing and a good way to coach-but my worry was it's not a great fit for the Indian cricket team.

If your coach cracks under the pressure and opens up his mouth first in a press conference responding to a simple question, it can well be a really long summer for Gautam Gambhir if India do not make a good start at Perth, he concluded.