'Gautam Gambhir's coaching style no where similar to Greg Chappell': Robin Uthappa

Gautam Gambhir's coaching style no where similar to Greg Chappell

The recent debacle in Australia, which saw India lose the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade, has given birth to many theories, which includes a possible rift inside the dressing room. Virat Kohli scored a century but he was mostly off-colour during the course of the series, while Indian skipper Rohit Sharma struggled in all outings he was part of.

Such was the impact that Rohit chose to "opt himself out" of the final Test in Sydney, which was a series decider, speculating retirement calls. Rohit, however, confirmed that nothing in this regard has been decided asserting he will continue to remain a prime figure in Indian cricket. Amidst all this, India eventually lost the series 1-3 and few reports indicated of the relationship between head coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Rohit hitting a breaking point.

Addressing the same, Rohit Sharma's former teammate and ex-India batter Robin Uthappa during an interaction with Lallantop was asked if Gambhir's coaching style has traits of Australia legend Greg Chappell, who during his stint as India coach was involved in a famous row with Sourav Ganguly.

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“I disagree with you that his style is similar to Greg Chappell’s. I don’t agree with it at all. I have not met a more straightforward person than Gauti. He is very direct. You may not like what he says, but he will tell it you on your face, you can be sure of that and I love people like that. According to me, these people have a good life. They say whatever they are thinking, and that is enough. You get what you see, that is better than being a different person behind someone’s back. I prefer someone being straightforward with me, and Gauti is very, very straight,” said Uthappa.

Sharing more insights on Gambhir's coaching style and the chemistry with players, Uthappa compared him to a captain of a ship. “He likes to run the ship and right now after the World Cup and him joining the team, he is joining a side of two different teams, infact three different leaders now. You have SKY, Rohit and then the ODI side is Hardik right? It is still Rohit, sorry. There are those different styles he has to adjust to right now, one where he has complete control, with T20Is. He is running the ship and he is taking SKY along and evolving him as a leader. There is freedom there,” the ex-cricketer said.

“Here they are probably finding the chemistry of the dynamic. It hasn’t been set yet, probably with Bumrah, he was leading his first Test, so the chemistry was better. Some just probably click and some take some time to click. It is not like the chemistry is not there. It is there and you can see in Gambhir’s interviews. He respects and likes Rohit a lot. Sometimes, relationships take time, as both are leaders with their own styles,” he added.