'Grow up' – Gambhir takes aim at 'perpetual cribbers'
India’s head coach dismisses talk of his team having an “undue advantage” in the Champions Trophy
Sidharth Monga04-Mar-2025
The pitch for the first semi-final was the most batting-friendly of the ones in Dubai so far•ICC via Getty Images
It comes with the territory that everything around India gets magnified, be it good or bad. Barely a press conference has gone by during this Champions Trophy where India’s supposed advantage has not been spoken about.Because of geopolitical issues, India haven’t travelled to the host nation, Pakistan, and have played all their matches – which will now include the final – in Dubai, while other teams have had to travel within Pakistan and then to Dubai to play India. It has been suggested that India benefited on two fronts: that their squad had fewer bases to cover, and that they had a chance to get used to one square unlike any other team in the competition. Coach Gautam Gambhir must have been really annoyed at such insinuations, and dismissed any such talk emphatically even when not directly asked about it.Gambhir was asked if India knew about the conditions in Dubai when they picked five spinners in their squad, three of them allrounders of varying capability. Gambhir came off the long run in response, taking aim at “perpetual cribbers”.Related
Shut up whiners, India had to overcome lots of burdens to win the Champions Trophy
Iyer's fire: the point of difference in India's middle order
Kumble: There is always undue pressure on Rahul
Kohli conquers legspin to add new layer to his mystique
Rahul: I'm quite used to going up and down the order
“See, first of all, this is as neutral a venue for us as it is for any other team,” Gambhir said. “We have not played here. I don’t remember when last we played here. And in fact, we didn’t plan anything like that. The plan was that if you pick two frontline spinners in the 15-man squad, then even if we played in Pakistan or anywhere, we would have picked two frontline spinners because this was a competition in the subcontinent.”So it’s not like we wanted to spin a spinners’ web. If you look at it, we only played one frontline spinner in the first two matches. We played two frontline spinners in this match and the previous match.”And there’s a lot of debate about the undue advantage and all that. What undue advantage? We haven’t practised here even for one day. We’re practising at the ICC academy. And the conditions there and here are 180 degrees different. Some people are just perpetual cribbers, man. They’ve got to grow up. I feel that there was nothing like we had any undue advantage.”It is fair to say the vanquished captain Steven Smith is not one of those perpetual cribbers. He played down any advantage for India in the lead-up to the match, and was asked again about it afterwards.2:32
Do India have an unfair advantage at the Champions Trophy?
“Yeah, look, I’m not buying into it,” Smith said. “I think it is what it is. India obviously played some really good cricket here. The surface kind of suits their style with the spinners that they’ve got and the seamers that they have at their disposal for a wicket like that. They played well, they outplayed us, and they deserve the victory.”However, the tournament’s top wicket-taker, Mohammed Shami, did say the familiarity of playing at the same ground has helped him. It doesn’t mean that what he said directly contradicts what Gambhir said. Gambhir had spoken glowingly about how well Shami prepares for matches. So Shami was asked about his preparations.”Main thing is to know the conditions and the behaviour of the pitch well,” Shami said. “Because you are playing at one venue, you have an opportunity to get used to the conditions properly. So, at practice, I keep things simple, and try to bowl according to the pitches for the match.”When asked if it was a benefit to be playing at the same venue, Shami said, “Definitely. Because you get to know the conditions, the behaviour of the pitch. A lot of things… the way the weather was today – cool – your brain works even more. It can be said that it is a plus point that all your matches have been played at the same venue.””What undue advantage? We haven’t practised here even for one day. We’re practising at the ICC academy. And the conditions there and here are 180 degrees different”•Associated Press
Having said all that, India’s unbeaten run into the final of another ICC event will gladden many a heart. India lost only the final in the 2023 ODI World Cup, won the T20 World Cup in 2024 without dropping a match, and have won all four of their matches in the ongoing Champions Trophy. Having been through some tough times in Test cricket recently, Gambhir rejoiced in the “flawless” performance but was wary of India getting ahead of themselves.”You used a very good word that we played ‘flawlessly’,” Gambhir said in response to a question. “I think yes, we did, but we still have one more game to go. We know that we are a good one-day side, and the most important thing is the way we’ve actually played throughout this competition. The hunger, the commitment, and the eagerness to try and do something special for the country is always there in the dressing room.”In international sport, you want to keep improving. You don’t say that you’ve ticked all the boxes. There’s always room to improve. There’s always something to improve, be it in batting, fielding, or bowling. And we still haven’t played a perfect game. We still have one more game to go. Hopefully we can play a perfect game.”And that is the kind of person I am. I will never be satisfied with the performances. We want to keep improving, we want to stay humble, we want to be ruthless on the cricket field, but absolutely humble off the field as well. That’s the kind of team environment and that’s the kind of culture we want to create in that dressing room, and be absolutely honest. So hopefully we can play one more game and play our best game.”