ENG vs IND 2025: Gautam Gambhir confronts journalist over query regarding 'positives' from Headingley Test loss
The Delhi-born hit back at the journalist and corrected his the way he framed his query, also reflecting on key individual outings from the match that helped them start the series on a good note.
After a shocking loss against England in the first Test of the series at Headingley, India head coach Gautam Gambhir addressed the media and invited questions from the reporters during the post-match press conference to reflect from key and crucial moments of the game.
Despite the loss, what stood out for the Indian team was the centuries from the specialist batters of the side where players like opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal (101) and captain Shubman Gill (147) got centuries in the first innings, while KL Rahul (137) got in the second. Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant (134 and 117) scored centuries in both the innings, which was a record-breaking feat.
A journalist at the media-only event asked Gambhir to reflect on Rishabh Pant's knocks as a positive takeaway from the Headingley encounter. "Talking about a bit of positive. How was it to witness that knock around Rishabh Pant and of course being the vice captain, being one of the leaders in this group, how he has taken that responsibility, that role?" he asked.
The 43-year-old did not like the way the question was framed and told that other players scoring centuries were also very important and great to get the series underway. The Delhi-born hit back at the journalist and corrected his the way he framed his query, while also reflecting on key individual outings from the match that helped them start the series on a good note.
"There are three more centuries as well. Those are big positives as well. I would have liked it if you had said that hundred from Yashasvi [Jaiswal], a hundred from Shubman [Gill] on debut as captain, a hundred from KL [Rahul] and two centuries from Rishabh. So five centuries in a Test match is a great start to be honest. And hopefully your question could have been better," the head coach responded fiercely.
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49Bumrah took a five-wicket haul as well: Gambhir
The head coach further went on to credit ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah for his magnificent spell with the ball in the first innings, where he took five wickets to break the back of the English batting line-up. In the second innings, though, Bumrah returned wicketless, as the Ben Stokes-led side clinched a victory by five wickets during the last session of the final day.
"But then again, there are great positives. We had a five [wickets] from Jasprit Bumrah [in the first innings] as well. But eventually, ultimately, everything boils down to that if you don't get the results, we go out there to get the results. Yes, individual performances are good. If you want those big runs from our top six, seven, which we got in this test match, we got a five from Bumrah. But at the end of the day, you go out there to win a Test match. And unfortunately, that wasn't the result. So we take it up our chin and move forward," he added.
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