Former Indian skipper Gautam Gambhir has praised the current Australian head coach Justin Langer for improving the Aussie side after the infamous sandpaper gate scandal against Australia in 2018. Under the coaching of Langer, the Aussies have turned their fortunes upside-down by beating teams like Australia, India, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand in recent times.
The former Indian cricketer revealed that the team which is traveling to India for a three-match ODI series is not Aaron Finch’s team or Tim Paine’s team, it is only Justin Langer’s team that knows how to win games.
He further added that the recent results for the Australian team are not “surprising” for him.
“So, recent results for Australia are not surprising to me. He is putting the team back on track, step by step. Langer is not traveling with the Aussies for this tour but he clearly has got the team on track. To me, the current Australian team is not Finch’s team or Paine’s team but it is Langer’s side,” Langer said.
Langer’s Test side defeated Sri Lanka 2-0 in January 2019, Retained the Ashes in England, Beat Pakistan 2-0 in November, and thumped the Kane Williamson-led New Zealand side 3-0 in December, last year. Meanwhile, in the 50-over format, the Aussies defeated India in their own backyard 3-2 and handed out a humiliating 5-0 loss to Pakistan in UAE.
The Indian batsman also revealed that working with Langer was an eye-opener and his time spent with the Aussie great changed his game for good. He also explained that Langer loves to talk to about the game and there were many things that he could relate to him, including temperament.
“He was left-handed like me, an opening batsman like me and looked a little grumpy like me. I could relate to him. As it turned out, we both loved to talk cricket. We spoke about the game, batting, mental aspects and above all – life,” added Justin Langer.
Gautam Gambhir also opened about the time he trained with Langer to make a comeback into the team in 2015 after a disastrous 2014.
The three-match ODI series between India and Australia will start later today in Mumbai. Both sides will be looking to topple each other for clinching the highly-anticipated series.
India Squad:
Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Lokesh Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, Navdeep Saini, Rishabh Pant, and Shivam Dube.
Australia Squad:
Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Steven Smith, Josh Hazlewood, Kane Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Ashton Turner, Ashton Agar, Adam Zampa, Alex Carey (wk), Marnus Labuschagne, and D Arcy Short.
