Karthik calls for seniors to own up to series loss, Manjrekar defends Gambhir

Dinesh Karthik and Sanjay Manjrekar

Ex-wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik believes the onus for the Test series loss rests with the senior players, while former batter Sanjay Manjrekar feels it would be unfair to place the blame on coach Gautam Gambhir.

Throughout the two matches, the senior players underperformed. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli struggled with the bat, while the spin duo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja also failed to make a significant impact. "Yeah. Why shouldn't it [the onus of the series loss] be the senior players? They will look at themselves and say, ‘What could we have done better?' I don't think they have run away from it," Karthik told Cricbuzz.

Also Read: Yashasvi Jaiswal will look to make his first Test at Wankhede memorable

Gambhir has also come in the line of fire, but Manjrekar backed him. "I will still maintain that the coach has the minimal influence on a team, lesser than your 11th weakest player. He does not set foot on the ground, the captain is in-charge out there," he told ESPNCricinfo.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever