'Ek samose mein bik gaye': Indian cricketer's jab after BCCI puts out Gambhir vs Dhoni captaincy debate with a 'tea party' twist

The presence of rift reports in the Indian dressing room is not a new phenomenon, especially after India's recent 1-2 loss to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. This trend has been observed throughout history, particularly during periods of transition combined with disappointing results. One such instance was in the late 80s and early 90s when the team was undergoing a shift away from the era of legends like Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, and Kapil Dev. Another notable period was in 2007-08 when Rahul Dravid stepped down as captain in 2007, followed by the retirements of Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly in the same series in 2008. Similar discord was witnessed in 2011-12 when stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid, and VVS Laxman were past their prime, leading to a string of defeats for India against England and Australia. This pattern of tension within the dressing room during transitional phases and poor results seems to be a recurring theme in Indian cricket history.

It was during that Australia tour that current head coach Gautam Gambhir, one of the top team members back then, was at the centre of it along with then-captain MS Dhoni. Yes, this is not the first time Gambhir has found himself in the middle of a dressing room muddle.

After eight straight losses in overseas Tests, an under-pressure MS Dhoni decided to opt for a rotation policy in the tri-series involving Australia and Sri Lanka. Openly citing fielding as the issue, Dhoni started to rotate Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gambhir at the top of the order. The move gave rise to endless reports of a rift between Dhoni and Sehwag, who was also the vice-captain of that tour. The duo didn't shy away from taking shots at each other in press conferences.

BCCI's ‘chai samosa’ party to pacify travelling Indian journalists

"That series had turned rather conspiratorial in every sense with reporters, players and everyone else talking about the ‘rift’," reported The Indian Express. The report added that in order to put an end to all the speculation, the Indian team media manager arranged a chai samosa (tea party) gathering for travelling Indian journalists.

"India’s media manager then, a genial old man, called the journalists covering the tour for a ‘chai and samosa party’. A player would then snide with laughter in private, “Heard you guys won’t be covering the rift anymore. Samosa mein bik gaye (sold out for a samosa)?!”," the report added.

In between all this, there was a believe among the selectors that Gambhir was the best man to lead India in Test cricket. “Gambhir could be that guy," a selector said. But then BCCI president N Srinivasan batted for Dhoni and ruled out the possibility of him being replaced as the captain.

"Even Mohinder Amarnath, a selector then, would land up towards the end of the tour. Some peace was bought, but the takeaway was that Dhoni, under whose captaincy India had lost 8 successive away Tests – four in England and four in Australia – was to be replaced by Gambhir.

"Soon, days before India’s next series against Sri Lanka, Gambhir would publicly say he was ready for the captaincy: “I am ready for it … I have heard of the talks (of being made India captain).” But Board president N Srinivasan, in whose IPL team Dhoni was the captain, supposedly veto-ed the proposal of the selectors, and retained Dhoni as Test captain. Gambhir’s chances of captaincy were nipped in the bud and his form too deserted him as he was soon left out of the team," the report read.

13 years later, after a first-ever 0-3 loss at home to New Zealand followed by a 1-3 loss in Australia, coach Gambhir faces another tough situation with team's seniors Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli going through one of the worst phases. Will it end on a good note for Gambhir this time?

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