The official announcement of Gautam Gambhir as the Indian coach was made by Jay Shah last night.
The official announcement of Gautam Gambhir as the Indian coach was made by Jay Shah last night. Gambhir might take over the side from the ODI series against Sri Lanka later in the month, marking his start of the stint.
While Rahul Dravid has left the team in a healthy state across formats, Gautam will still have a few significant challenges to work on immediately. The team is, or will, go through a minor or major transition during Gambhir’s tenure, and how he handles and forms formidable groups will be something to have a keen eye on.
In this segment, we look at the top five things in Gautam Gambhir’s checklist as head coach.
The most immediate challenge for Gautam Gambhir will be to fill significant voids in the T20I unit formed due to the retirements of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja. The trio was the centre of things in T20Is for the last decade but decided to hang boots following India’s triumph in the T20 World Cup 2024.
Gambhir must find two world-class top-order batters to replace Rohit and Virat at the top and their reserves. Further, his job would be to find an ideal backup for Axar Patel, the likely successor of Jadeja as an all-rounder.
Fortunately for Gambhir, there are plenty of options around the domestic circuit. Then, IPL will also give a platform to several players to come into contention with solid performances, making his job slightly facile.
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While Jay Shah is confident of India winning the Champions Trophy next year, Gambhir knows the job won’t be as straightforward. Only the best teams in the world compete in this tournament, and India have lost plenty of ICC events in the semifinal and final in this format.
Gambhir’s task would be to ensure India have the best possible team on paper and cross the final hurdle. It’s been a while since India won an ICC trophy in the 50-over format, and Gambhir must rejig tactics to ascertain India don’t make the same mistakes again.
Gambhir has previous experience playing in Pakistan, while most players in the current batch are alien to those conditions. His role would be to prepare the team accordingly by making the team adapt accordingly.
The Test side is going through a slight transition. Under Dravid, the management looked past veterans Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, whereas the bowling unit massively depends on Jasprit Bumrah, especially away from home.
India have a daunting Australia tour later this year, which will be Gambhir’s first biggest challenge as an Indian coach. While India have won the previous two series down under, the Test side is not the same anymore.
This series will be vital in the context of the World Test Championship points. Gambhir must form a roadmap to win it and solidify their position in the points table before eventually reaching the final and winning it.
While India are dominant in the ODI format, their players are ageing and might stretch the 2027 World Cup at best. Rohit and Virat will likely retire after it, whereas KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, and Mohammed Shami will also be in their late 30s.
While the eye will be on that big event in 2027, Gambhir must find players to take over once the tournament ends and the team endures an alteration. The planning for the future should start immediately, where the new head coach must chalk down the schedule and plan accordingly.
His role is to select a few future players and give them reasonable opportunities before drafting them permanently to the national side. When the senior players are busy with other tasks or rested, those backups must get exposure to international cricket, helping them stay prepared when their chance comes.
While Jasprit Bumrah is India’s premium bowler, he can’t do everything alone and requires a solid support cast to share the workload. Gautam Gambhir’s task should be to find ideal players for those roles across formats in the next few years.
India have plenty of options, but they haven’t solidified their place in every form of international cricket. Mohammed Shami will also age and is injury-prone, while Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh are not sure starters in every format.
No other pacer has nailed their performances to press a case for themselves in any category. Gambhir must identify adequate players for each version and test them across various conditions before ensuring they are ideal for the role and making them permanent in the correct format.
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