India's white-ball tour Down Under is over as they emerged victorious in the T20I series 2-1 in the five-match contest but lost by a similar scoreline in the three-match series.
It was a mixed-bag experience for the reigning T20 World Cup, Champions Trophy and Asia Cup champions as they struggled in the 50-over format but completely dominated the opponents in the shortest format.
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While head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav received praises overall for the T20 series, questions were raised over some of Gambhir's harsh calls throughout the series.
Despite being in the best of their forms, Arshdeep Singh was overlooked in the ODI series and did not make it to the team in the first two T20Is, while ace spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who had a terrific outing in the Asia Cup, was not given enough game time during the course of the T20 series.
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Speaking to BCCI, the India boss said: "That is probably the toughest part of me as a coach. I think that is the toughest job I have. When I know there is so much so much of quality sitting on the bench, and everyone deserves to be part of the playing XI, but ultimately you can pick only XI, thinking which is the best combination to do the job on that particular day."
He added: "The most important for me is the conversation and the communication. The communication needs to be very clear, very honest. Sometimes those are hard conversations to have. If you tell someone that he is not playing, it is probably the toughest conversation for a coach and a player as well. Because I know that the player would get upset when he deserves to be part of the playing XI.
"But if you are honest and straightforward, if you know that what you are saying is from the heart, and there is nothing beyond that, some players do understand that. It is a communication between a player and a coach, and I think it should stay till there (only), rather than people making a lot of outcry and different theories about it."
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"We have got to be very smart in how we use them" - Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir further stressed on the players' workload management, considering they are playing all three formats, as he added: "The guys who are playing all three formats, we have got to be very smart in how we use them, because there should not be a burnout.
"For example, someone like Kuldeep or Bumrah, or a Shubman, Washi, or Axar, all these guys are playing all three formats. So, we need to be very smart in how much we want to use them. Switching formats is tough. Imagine now in four days' time we have a Test match starting at 9 in the morning, facing Rabada or Jansen after an Australia tour."
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