Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has put his weight behind the current head coach Gautam Gambhir following his comments on Ricky Ponting during a press conference ahead of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Ganguly backs Gambhir over controversial comments

“All I will say is let him be. I saw some criticism of 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,” said Ganguly while talking in an interview.

“And why not? Australians, from the time I have watched cricket, 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 or three months, and you are passing judgment on him,” he added.

Gautam Gambhir had earlier suggested that Ricky Ponting should concentrate more on Australian cricket rather than talking about Virat Kohli’s form and stats.

“What does Ponting have to do with Indian cricket? He should think about Australian cricket. We have no concerns about Kohli, Rohit. They have achieved a lot for Indian cricket and will do in the future as well,” Gambhir had said.

Replying to this, Ricky Ponting called Gautam Gambhir ‘a pricky character’ and further added that he had rather backed Virat Kohli to put up a good show during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

India and Australia will be up against each other in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy scheduled to begin on November 22.