Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik. (TOI Photo)

NEW DELHI: Former Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir slammed all-rounder Andre Russell for criticizing his team after a string of losses.

In his column for the Times of India, Gambhir wrote, "I was disappointed with Andre Russell's comments where he termed the KKR team atmosphere as "unhealthy". In one of the recent interviews I did express my regret. But looks like, I jumped the gun. One of my journalist friends sent me a link to his press conference with a message that I had misinterpreted Russell's comments. He was right. Russell was only mentioning about disappointing team atmosphere after a string of losses. May be his choice of words was wrong which led me to think that there were cracks in the KKR ranks. But Russell then goes on to talk about "lack of passion" and "bad decisions" by the team. In my humble opinion this was uncalled for. I can understand his emotions for KKR but I'd be disappointed if I was Dinesh Karthik . No one wants to lose. No one wants to take poor decisions and KKR did take some ordinary calls this year. That doesn't mean that these things should be discussed in a press conference!!!"

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After registering four wins and one loss in the first five games, KKR suffered six defeats in a row that derailed their campaign. Although KKR returned to winning ways against Mumbai Indians in their last game, the Dinesh Karthik-led side need to register victories in their final two games to have an outside chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

"In crunch situations like these where one loss could be the end of KKR's season, senior guys need to close ranks even more. I have had plenty of disagreements with my teammates. On more than one occasion I didn't agree with captain MS Dhoni, but these things remained within the team. I think someone from the coaching staff or KKR management should sit down with Russell and explain to him the relevance of a cohesive dressing room. I know the media is just trying to do their job and get their headlines but as a player I never obliged them," Gambhir added.

In his new book 'The Barefoot Coach', India's former mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton has written about notions of mental toughness and how Gambhir, despite being one of the finest Indian batsmen of his time, was perhaps also "one of the weakest and mentally most insecure". But Gambhir said he "doesn't see anything wrong" in Upton's assessment of his insecurities but asserted that he is not a vulnerable man, citing the 97 in the World Cup final to buttress his point.

"Paddy Upton, my former teammate from the coaching staff, is out with his book. In it he has mentioned that I am a "pessimistic, weak-minded" individual. The media wanted me to react on it. I read the excerpt of his book "The Barefoot Coach" which looks like an exciting collection of stories. I just hope it is not psychological jargon, Paddy," Gambhir concluded.

