Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has advised his former Delhi teammate Gautam Gambhir to tone down his reactions in public interactions.
“Gautam came and he was very fiery. You expect that with Gautam. When he comes to press conferences, he speaks his heart out. I have a suggestion for Gautam. When you come so fiery, and when you go after an individual or something, people then start waiting for Gautam to fail. At times, it seems like you are setting yourself up for this kind of criticism,” Chopra said, speaking on his YouTube channel.
Chopra felt Gambhir’s aggressive approach could backfire if the national team stumbles again and warned that such comments allow critics to wait for moments of failure.
He added aiming at individuals can make the India head coach vulnerable to future criticism.
Chopra acknowledged Gambhir’s commitment to Indian cricket and called him passionate and sincere.
He urged Gambhir not to involve himself in unnecessary confrontations. “It cannot be his mistake only when the team loses. One thing is certain with Gautam. His heart is at the right place and he is a very passionate guy. He is always ready to fight for the country and the country’s team. My only suggestion is don’t fight. You have to please nobody. Don’t pick up so many fights,” he said.
The episode stems from comments made by Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal, who criticised India’s Test performances on social media in the aftermath of the team’s second home series whitewash in 12 months and Gambhir’s retort to him in a news conference.
India had suffered a heavy defeat to South Africa in November, losing the second Test in Guwahati by 408 runs.
Jindal had urged the BCCI on X to consider split coaching and to bring in a specialist for the red ball format.
In a post match news conference, Gambhir said the IPL team co-owner should stay within his domain and refrain from making comments on matters unrelated to him.
“People said things that have nothing to do with cricket. An IPL team owner also wrote about split coaching. It’s important for people to stay in their domain. Because if we don’t go into someone’s domain, they also don’t have the right to come into our domain,” Gambhir said.
Chopra viewed Gambhir’s swipe at Jindal as avoidable. He noted that while Gambhir suggested only experts should comment on cricket matters, such an argument may not hold.
“He said if you don’t have the domain expertise, don’t talk about it. I felt it was slightly unnecessary. However, sometimes we fail to understand the undercurrents behind it. I am not trying to defend him. However, at times, you feel bad about someone because you know that guy’s opinion about you had been different earlier as well, so let me just fire it back,” he said.
He added that public commentary does not require domain expertise and referred to recent aviation sector developments to support his point.
“That might have been the case with that one person. Otherwise, I don’t think there is merit in this argument that you don’t need to speak about something if you are not the domain expert. Just like the incredible thing Indigo has done. I am not an aviation expert, but I can talk. I don’t think someone doesn’t have a moral right to talk,” he said.