Gautam Gambhir criticized Kris Srikkanth for unfairly targeting 23-year-old Harshit Rana over his selection in the national team.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir responded sharply to former captain Kris Srikkanth’s claims that pace bowler Harshit Rana made the ODI squad for Australia because of his personal connection with Gambhir. Gambhir noted that Rana earned his place through his own performance, highlighting that targeting a 23-year-old player over personal associations is unfair.
“Look, it’s a little shameful. And I will be very honest with you. It is so unfair that you are targetting a 23-year-old kid for the sake of your YouTube channel. Because ultimately, his father is not an ex-chairman or an ex-cricketer or an NRI. Whatever cricket he has played so far, he has played on his own, and he will continue to play on his own. If you target someone individually, that is not fair,” said Gambhir.
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“You can target people’s performance and there are selectors and coaches who target people’s performance. But if you say such things to a 23-year-old kid, and then social media amplifies it even more, or in social media, you are told in such a way, imagine the mindset. In future, someone can target your kid too. Anyone can target anyone. At least you can realise that he is a 23-year-old kid,” he continued.
Gautam Gambhir Calls for Responsible Media and Criticism of Young Cricketers
Gambhir then pointed out that while senior players can handle scrutiny, it is important to protect young talent from personal attacks and focus on performance. The coach also reminded critics that Indian cricket belongs to the nation and should be respected.
“He is not a 33-year-old kid. You can criticise me, and I can still handle it. But a 23-year-old boy, is a 23-year-old boy. That is something which is not acceptable. I think that is why we need to be careful. What you say, only to run your YouTube channel. I think you’ve got, every one of us, not only me, you guys, every one of us have a moral responsibility towards Indian cricket. Indian cricket doesn’t belong to me. It doesn’t belong to people sitting in the dressing room. It belongs to all of you as well. It belongs to every Indian, who genuinely wants Indian cricket to do well. So you can criticise, but only on performance. Don’t do it because you want to target an Indian. You want to target someone, you target someone. You target me, that’s okay,” he said.
“But, don’t target a young boy. And, it is not only in Harshit’s case, in future also, don’t target these young boys. So, performance, I think performance, we all know that it is important, results are important,” Gambhir added.
Harshit Rana featured in India’s recent Asia Cup win. He is set to be part of the three-match ODI series against Australia, which begins on October 19.
Last Updated on October 14, 2025
