Gautam Gambhir reminded of his 1-match ban by Brad Haddin amid Ricky Ponting row

Former Australia cricketer has reminded India head coach Gautam Gambhir of his one-match ban from 2008 amid his verbal spat with Ricky Ponting. Notably, Gambhir recently reacted strongly to Ponting’s criticism of Virat Kohli’s form and said that the former Australia captain has no business talking about Indian cricket and should only focus on Australian cricket.

Recently, Haddin shared his views on Gambhir’s fiery attack on Ponting and called him a prickly character. He further mentioned how the India head coach was once banned for elbowing Shane Watson during a Test match in India. Gambhir was handed a one-match ban for poking Watson with his elbow while running a single during a Test in Delhi in 2008.

“Gambhir is a character that would use this as an us versus them mentality. And you expect your coach to stick up for the players. His reaction was prickly there, and you don’t need your coach to get caught up in that sort of scenario unless his tactics is to build an us versus them. I know what the backstory. I’ll tell you; just wait till later of the week. There was a little elbow, suspensions and fines,” said Haddin on LiSTNR podcast.

Further speaking ahead, Haddin mentioned how Gambhir’s method of protecting his players has worked so far for him as no one is focused on the under fire senior duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

We’re not really talking now about Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli: Haddin

“It’s out of the Wayne Bennett style of coaching. So we’re not really talking now about Rohit Sharma or [Virat] Kohli. We’re talking about Gambhir and Ricky [Ponting]. With Gambhir, he has bitten back, taken the pressure away from his team. It’s all about him now; it’s about how prickly he is. And now he might be able to go and prepare his team. You’d like to believe that he has a very clear plan on how they want to ready,” he added.

Meanwhile, India captain Rohit Sharma is unlikely to feature in the first Test due to personal reasons. It has been widely reported that the India skipper is expecting his second child with wife Ritika Sajdeh. However, Rohit is continuously practicing in India to keep himself ready for the series. In his absence, vice captain Jasprit Bumrah is set to lead the team having captained the side once in July, 2022 vs England.