Gary Kirsten and Gautam Gambhir once shared a cricket dressing room and even won a World Cup together.
So we had a good conversation around that, obviously trying to help our players play the best cricket they can in both countries,” Kirsten told reporters in the post-match press conference. Now, they find themselves in rival camps. Gautam Gambhir is the coach of the Indian cricket team, while Gary Kirsten is the coach of Sri Lanka. They came face to face during the first India vs England Test. “We didn’t do much reminiscing; we actually spoke about coaching and the challenges of coaching, and we both have strong values around Test cricket.
Gary Kirsten and Gautam Gambhir once shared a cricket dressing room and even won a World Cup together. Now, they find themselves in rival camps
Kirsten was happy to see the fight Sri Lanka showed despite being reduced to 99 for five in the early part of their first innings and then dragging the match into the fifth and final day. “From being 99 for 5 at the beginning of the third day to then taking the Test match into the afternoon of the fifth day was particularly pleasing.
It is sometimes tough when you don’t play Test cricket to understand how you need to play it,” Kirsten said in the post-match press conference. But as I said, we’re kind of building that and developing that as best we can,” he added. “I’m particularly excited by being involved with Sri Lankan cricket. I think there are some great players here, but the team still needs to develop. “This is now our third Test match in the space of a couple of months, and I can already see the team developing, and we’re starting to build some shape into the team. “But we need to be able to turn it into a performance at some point. There was a bit of fight, and we were keen to try and stay in the Test match. “We still believed even this (Wednesday) morning that we could make something happen, either win the Test match or certainly draw it. So, I was really pleased with the energy and the attitude of the team around that.
