Former India captain Sourav Ganguly backed Gautam Gambhir after he was scrutinised for his straight responses at press conferences. After the 0-3 series loss to New Zealand at home, India are under immense pressure ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as Gambhir has also been put under the scanners after his mixed start to coaching tenure.

During a press conference before India left for Australia, Gambhir was asked to give his views on Australia legend Ricky Ponting's take on Virat Kohli's underwhelming form. The Indian head coach backed his player and told Ponting to focus on the Australian team; the comment didn't go down well with few from the cricket fraternity. Ponting even replied to the comment and called Gambhir a prickly character.

Ganguly, who has played alongside Gambhir in the past, came in support of his former teammate. He said everyone was going gaga over him when he did the same straight talk in IPL, where he mentored KKR to the title win this year.

“All I will say is let him be. I saw some criticism on what he said in the press conference. It is the way he is. Let him be. When he won the IPL, he was the same, you were going gaga over him. Just because he has lost three test matches and a one-day series against Sri Lanka, the straight talk has not been looked at nicely. But that is the way he is,” Ganguly told Revzsports.

‘Nothing wrong with what Gautam Gambhir has said’: Sourav Ganguly

Australia has not won a Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the past decade, but they will still be favourites to win the series after India suffered an embarrassing defeat against New Zealand at home.

Ganguly, who has led the Indian team against Australia in the past, asserted that their former players have always been tough on the Indians and said Gambhir is doing nothing wrong.

“And why not? Australians, from the time I have watched cricket, they have been tough for you. They have played their cricket that way, whether it was Waugh, Ponting or Hayden. So, there is nothing wrong with what Gambhir has said. That is the way he is and he fights, he competes so let us give him a chance. It has just been two-three months and you are passing a judgement on him,” he added.

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