Former Indian pace bowler Zaheer Khan believes head coach Gautam Gambhir must accept the criticisms that he is facing now after the side’s latest Test series defeat to South Africa. However, Team India faced a 0-2 Test series whitewash at home to South Africa, extending their poor run in the red-ball format.

Talking about the pressure on Gambhir, Zaheer said on Cricbuzz: “So the accountability and the appraisal is always going to be there. It goes hand in hand and the job demands you to be that way. The scrutiny with the game is always going to be there with your role. So you’ve got to be able to balance it. You’ve got to be thick skinned to be able to deal with all these criticisms.”

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“Emotions run high and you are expected to win every game. And you are expected to win because you’ve been doing that consistently. So you have the strength in your side to be able to achieve those kinds of milestones and to have those kinds of victories,” he again shared.

Zaheer Khan also urged Team India to play on pitches tailored to last the full five days at home as well.

“Playing at home, you have to score runs. If you are not able to right now do that consistently then create pitches which are going to last five days and go that way. Even if you don’t get the results in a few games, that’s fine. But some kind of simplified but clear thinking is required as far as the Test match format is concerned,” concluded Zaheer Khan.