NEW DELHI: India’s World Cup-winning former coach Gary Kirsten has expressed his admiration for the manner in which Gautam Gambhir shepherded the team to a creditable 2-2 draw on the tough Test tour of England recently.India and England settled for a stalemate after five intensely fought Tests played across nearly two months.“I’m really happy for the Indian cricket team for levelling the series and it’s great for Indian cricket. I’m really pleased for Gautam Gambhir as well, I know him well. Really delighted and pleased for what he’s achieved with the team,” Kirsten told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.“They’re (India) doing really well at the moment. We all get excited by the success of the Indian team, I certainly do. They’ve got a great bunch of young players coming through now and it’s really exciting to be supporting them,” added Kirsten.Having lost the series opener at Leeds, India staged a remarkable comeback to level the rubber, which concluded with the visitors’ famous win at the Oval.India won the 2011 World Cup at home under Kirsten’s guidance and also reached the number one position in the Test format during his time with the team.Gambhir was part of that World Cup-winning team as Virender Sehwag’s opening partner and played a fine knock of 97 in the final against Sri Lanka.Recalling his tenure as coach in this part of the world, Kirsten said one of his highlights of his stint with India was getting Ishant Sharma to practice batting at nets and eventually help VVS Laxman to save a Test against Australia in Mohali in 2010.
“One highlight in my three years with the Indian team was getting Ishant Sharma to come down to the nets with his batting pads and then to get him to face 48 balls in the Test match against Australia with VVS Laxman to win the game. That was a highlight for me to work on his batting.“I really enjoyed that from a leadership perspective because he didn’t think he could bat. And he still can’t bat that well, but we kind of helped him get through that Test match and do really well,” Kirsten said.Set a target of 216, India were left staring down the barrel at 124 for eight but Laxman (73 not out), first with Ishant (31), and then alongside No.11 Pragyan Ojha, guided India to a memorable one-wicket win.
