Ex-India batter accuses Gautam Gambhir of favourtism: 'He backs players he likes, lets go of those he doesn't'

Ex-India batter accuses Gautam Gambhir of favourtism (AP Photo)

Gautam Gambhir, the head coach of India, has so far experienced a rollercoaster ride since taking over his current role. Team India won the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 under his guidance but Test cricket still remains a blot despite the 2-2 result in the recently-concluded England series.

And now with Shreyas Iyer being completely ignored in the T20 setup despite his stellar show in IPL 2025 have mounted further backlash against the 2011 World Cup winner. The latest to attack the head coach is former India player Sadagoppan Ramesh, who accused Gambhir of favourtism.

"He backs the players he likes but completely lets go of those he doesn't," Ramesh said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Sportskeeda.

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He then weighed-in on the burning topic, which is Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal's snub from the Asia Cup 2025 squad. Noting the Champions Trophy triumph as Gambhir's "biggest achievement" as India coach, Ramesh highlighted Iyer's role in it. The middle-order batter amassed 243 runs from five innings, which featured two half-centuries, in the tournament to finish as the team's leading run-scorer.

"Gambhir's actual biggest achievement remains the Champions Trophy triumph. Shreyas Iyer was the biggest reason for that result. Yet, Gambhir is not backing Shreyas Iyer. Someone like Jaiswal, who is an X-factor player, must play all the formats. Keeping him in the standby is a poor move," he noted.

"Shreyas Iyer produced incredible performances in the same UAE in the Champions Trophy. Players need to be backed when they are high on confidence and in form and not when they fade away and lack confidence. This is the ideal time to reap the rewards of Iyer's sky-high confidence and form."

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The ex-India bater was also critical of the recent Test series in England, which he pointed that it only appears "a great achievement because we performed poorly over the past year."

"Winning consistently abroad had started long back under Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri. But now, just the drawn series in England gets looked at as a big achievement in Gambhir's track record," he added.