Gautam Gambhir is getting brutally trolled as India lost to Ireland again. The Men in Blue lost the 2nd T20 against the minnows and lost the series as well.
As hilarious memes and angry outbursts flood social media, one particular tweet grabbed a lot of attention. The official handle of Iceland Cricket, which often posts sarcastic tweets, spoke about the Team India head coach.
“We can confirm that we don't wish to add Gautam Gambhir to our coaching staff. He clearly has talent, though. To take those Indian players and deliver those results in Ireland takes truly remarkable gifts,” it wrote in apparent banter.
“Absolutely right. Gambhir is a 'talented' politician, not a coach,” reacted an Indian cricket fan.
“Even Indian Railways has refused to add Gautam Gambhir as a coach to its 12-coach non AC train,” quipped another.
Comedian Nishant Tanwar trolled Gautam Gambhir: “Thanks to Gambhir, we have done the impossible: we’ve lost to Ireland. If you give him more chances, he will achieve more such feats for Team India.”
“I’m so impressed with him that I think we should go back to 2011 and award him the Man of the Match. Go ahead, Gambhir, knock down Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy career even before it starts,” he added.
Another user blasted, “SACK GAUTAM GAMBHIR: They removed Rohit Sharma from the ODI captaincy even after he won the Champions Trophy. They dropped Suryakumar Yadav from the T20I team even after he won the T20 World Cup. But, why is the BCCI not sacking Gautam Gambhir even after India were whitewashed by New Zealand and South Africa in home Test series, and by Ireland in a T20I series?”
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
One of the biggest talking points is India’s decision not to play Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Fans and experts spoke about it with wonder and disdain.
“Who would have imagined that we won the T20 World Cup just 3 months ago! What a pathetic performance by the Indian cricket team. Not playing Vaibhav in the 2nd T20, even when other batters were out of form, is a blunder by the team management,” commented a fan.
Another user wrote, “Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was selected solely to sell tickets and attract sponsors. Sony Sports and Sony LIV made a lot of money by posting about him 6-7 times a day.”
Sunil Gavaskar was quite clear about his take on the 15-year-old.
“I’ve been saying this for a month now. Given the kind of form he is in, Vaibhav should have played both the matches against Ireland. In one match, Vaibhav and Abhishek Sharma should have opened the innings. Sanju Samson should have joined him as the opener in the other match. They should have dropped Abhishek or pushed him down the order,” Gavaskar said on Aaj Tak.
“Yes, Vaibhav’s failure was definitely possible. But, this was a great opportunity to try younger players,” he added.
Mohammad Kaif said, “Vaibhav should have been there if India had played its best squad… He’s coming after a lot of runs scored in the IPL. He was the Orange Cap winner.”
Unique T20 Records
The whitewash sealed some embarrassing records for India in T20 cricket. The last time the Men in Blue lost a T20 series was in 2023. The West Indies defeated India 3-2. Before that, India lost a T20 series to Sri Lanka 1-2.
But,the last time India suffered a whitewash in a T20 series was in 2018-19. Australia beat India 2-0. Between the two whitewashes, in 2018 and in 2026, India have played 41 T20 series, won 33 of them and drawn 3.
The 5 losses included the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021/22, the Men's T20 Asia Cup 2022, and the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022/23. Since the Australia whitewash, only 2 teams have managed to whitewash India in a bilateral series: Sri Lanka and the West Indies.
Disclosure: Stats from ESPNcricinfo