Raina backs Gambhir, says India's failures not coach's fault

New Delhi: Former India batter Suresh Raina has backed under-fire national head coach Gautam Gambhir, saying the team's recent poor run in home Tests cannot be attributed to the support staff as players must shoulder responsibility for the results.

India, after being shockingly whitewashed at home by New Zealand last year, are staring at another disastrous outcome in the ongoing series against South Africa, having lost the opening game of the two-match series.

"Gauti bhaiya (Gautam Gambhir) has worked really hard and he is not at all at fault. The players have to work really hard and play well. Under him we have been doing great in the white-ball format where we just won the ICC Champions Trophy and Asia Cup in Dubai earlier this year," Raina told 'PTI Videos'.

"The players have to score, the coach can only guide, advise and give support to the players," he said on the sidelines of the Indian Softball Cricket League's jersey launch here.

He was unveiled as the event's brand ambassador Raina dismissed suggestions that Gambhir's future as head coach is at risk due to the recent poor home Test record.

"If they (the players) are facing any issues, they must be communicating to the coach that this is the issue. If the players do well then the coach will be also applauded. But if the team is not doing well, it should not be that the coach should be sacked from his post," he said.

"I have played with Gautam bhaiya, he loves Indian cricket team, he loves cricket, I have played and won the World Cup with him. So, he has done really well for the country and it is the players' responsibility to do well," he added.

On the criticism of India's selection calls in the ongoing series, Raina said performances in domestic cricket should remain the benchmark.

"They should play domestic cricket regularly and do well there, if they do well that will automatically reflect in their performances at the international level," he said.

He also highlighted the challenges of modern cricket, including three different formats and hectic scheduling, which affect performance.

"Also the planning of the series can be better because you have to quickly switch formats from white ball and suddenly you are playing red-ball cricket again so the players I believe have less time in hand.

"The players should also improve their application in the middle, I hope this all is getting noticed...," he said.

Raina said he is looking forward to the ODI series between the two sides starting November 30 where senior-most batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be in action.

"Ro-Ko (Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli) will be back, yes. They did well in Australia and will surely strengthen the ODI squad against South Africa. Both of them are great ambassadors for world and Indian Cricket.

"When they'll be in the side then the atmosphere will be different, Rishabh Pant is also back after a while so it will be fun to watch the ODI series." The Indian Softball Cricket League (ISCL) will feature 32 teams.

Reflecting on the significance of softball cricket, Raina said the format plays an important role in shaping young players.

"Softball cricket has its own set of challenges, we used to play it before we made it big as professionals. This league will provide youngsters a platform to showcase their talent and dream big," he said.

He added that several top cricketers had their roots in the softball format.

"Players like Jasprit Bumrah, Lakshmipathy Balaji are some examples who started with Softball cricket and made it big. This is a different kind of challenge for the players, the batters have to deal with bounce and different variations," he said.