Former India pacer Balvinder Singh Sandhu slammed head coach Gautam Gambhir for his remarks on Kris Srikkanth’s take on Harshit Rana’s selection for the tour of Australia. Srikkanth was surprised to see Harshit’s name in the team and went on to accuse Gambhir of favouritism, given the seamer’s association with the current coach during his days with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League.

Gautam defended the decision and slammed Srikkanth for his views, accusing him of targeting a 23-year-old cricketer for promoting his YouTube Channel.

“You can agree or disagree with someone, but you can’t rebuke him. Srikkanth has his own way of saying things, and this is why we love him. Former players tend to go overboard at times, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t speak about the game they played with passion,” Sandhu wrote in his column for Mid-Day.

“Their views should be respected. It is good to focus on the games rather than taking on a former player when you are a head coach. I was pained to read Gautam Gambhir publicly rebuking Srikkanth’s views and the way he spoke about a former player in the media,” he added.

Sandhu gave an important suggestion to Gambhir. “I have coached him at the NCA when he was a U-19 player. I want to remind him that it is important to focus on how to improve the team’s performance and win tournaments. That’s the only way to silence the critics.”