After winning the Twenty20 International series in Sri Lanka in his very first match, Gautam Gambhir’s tenure has gotten off to the best possible start.
“I firmly think that getting to and from the game is something you do in the coach.” The late, great Shane Warne had little use for organized teaching or the “bootcamp” techniques used by Australian coach John Buchanan.
For each prospective athlete in any sport, the coach is a crucial figure throughout their early years of development. It is at this point when methods and strategies are ingrained, serving as the basis for subsequent events. At the professional level, the term “coach” is a bit misleading because, in individual sports, but particularly in team dynamics, the coach serves more as a player-manager. His duties include both soothing and stroking bloated and injured egos and creating the best atmosphere for his charges to thrive.
It is tough to picture Gautam Gambhir taking care of people’s egos. That being said, despite his well-publicized persona as a cranky, uncompromising character, he is a great man-manager. Gambhir, who spent three and a half years as India’s head coach, has perfected the skill of putting the player first while serving as a mentor for the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Lucknow Super Giants.
With a win in his very first match, a Twenty20 International series in Sri Lanka, Gambhir’s lengthy term has gotten off to the best possible start. India has played the superior cricket, therefore the 2-0 scoreline cannot be attributed to beginner’s luck. However, it is obvious that Gambhir will face more difficult obstacles in the future.
perhaps beginning with the three-match One-Day International series in Colombo later this week. The T20I team is primarily made up of young, inexperienced players, but Gambhir had the benefit of developing a close bond with captain Suryakumar Yadav while the left-handed opener was leading the Kolkata Knight Riders. India will be welcoming back veteran players Rohit Sharma, who is now the captain of both the ODI and Test teams, along with Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, who have both captained the nation in all three forms. The way that things develop over the following several months will depend greatly on the sort of connection that Gambhir is able to establish with them.
The fact that Gambhir played with Kohli for Delhi and India and shared a dressing room with Rohit should facilitate the transition from Rahul Dravid’s coaching era. Despite having many run-ins in the IPL in the past, Gambhir and Kohli—the former an MP from East Delhi and the later a natural born West Delhi native—seem to have laid the hatchet long before Gambhir was even considered for the head coach position. Since Rohit is a calm and collected person who seldom feels the urge to engage in conflict unless provoked severely, it is safe to assume that the two seasoned professionals would support Gambhir since their ultimate objective is to advance Indian cricket as a whole.
In response to questions at his first news conference as head coach, Gambhir discussed his relationship with Kohli in great detail and insisted that everything was OK between them. There is no reason not to accept it; both are very passionate people who have gotten into arguments when they were on different sides of the fence. Since they share a dressing room now, it’s difficult to imagine them not going in the same direction. Gambhir is aware of the skills Kohli brings to the table, and the latter—who isn’t as dominant in Indian cricket as he was until 2021—knows that Gambhir has his and his team’s best interests in mind.
Is it possible for Gambhir to improve upon Rohit and Kohli’s current batting abilities? This question has no simple or complex response. It’s clear that Gambhir is incapable of leading them in batting, and neither of these seasoned players has batting knowledge. While it will be Gambhir’s responsibility to make the most of their skills, neither right-hander requires outside inspiration at this point in their careers.
Since November 19, 2023, one of the worst days in Indian cricket history—when Australia condemned them to a devastating defeat in the World Cup final—neither Rohit nor the skipper he succeeded him in the role had participated in an ODI. In world sports, eight months is a long time, so even these two deserving athletes will inevitably have seen some rust.
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