After shining as a player, Gautam Gambhir is also proving himself as a head coach. After winning the T20 World Cup title in 2024, Rahul Dravid’s tenure ended and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) handed over the responsibility of the team to Gambhir. Gambhir’s stint as a mentor with IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) was very successful, but ever since he was given the responsibility of the national team, his decisions have been constantly questioned.
Fuss in Test, strong in white ball format
Gambhir took over as the head coach after the T20 World Cup 2024 and from the very first day he expressed his intentions by taking tough decisions. Gambhir was accused of being biased and his policies were also questioned, but this did not make any difference to him and he continued to do his work regularly. During Gambhir’s tenure, the performance of the Indian Test team has not been as per the expectations and the team is not able to win even on the home ground, but they have got successes in limited overs.
The style is different from Dravid
Gambhir came to this post after the successful tenure of Rahul Dravid. There were tough challenges before him. Gambhir’s style was quite different from Dravid and discussions had started as to whether his relations would be better with senior players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Within a short time, Gambhir’s tenure started being criticized and his style was also questioned.
Started with changes in T20 team
Gambhir took over the post of head coach of the Indian team in July 2024. Gambhir came to the post at a time when India had won the T20 World Cup title during Dravid’s tenure. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had retired from T20 Internationals and the Indian team was going through a period of change in this format. It was believed that Hardik Pandya would be given the command of the T20 team, but the captaincy went to Suryakumar Yadav. This was a surprising decision, but Gambhir’s era had started in Team India and perhaps Gambhir played an important role in Suryakumar getting the captaincy. The pair of these two were hits in T20. Be it the Asia Cup or the bilateral series and now the T20 World Cup, the team’s performance under the leadership of these two was strong.
Won the title for the first time as a coach
Amidst all the criticism and allegations of bias, Team India won the Champions Trophy title last year under the leadership of Gambhir. India had performed strongly in the entire tournament at that time. Under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma and the guidance of Gambhir, the Indian team won the Champions Trophy by defeating New Zealand. In this way, Gambhir had led India to victory in his very first ICC tournament as a coach.
Coaches came under attack for failure in test format
Under the leadership of Gambhir, the team performed well in ODI and T20, but India’s performance in the Test format is continuously declining. Under Gambhir’s leadership, India defeated Bangladesh in the first Test series. After this, India faced New Zealand in 2024. In this three-match series, the performance of the Indian team was very poor at home and Team India lost a Test series at home after a long time. The Kiwi team had defeated India 0-3 at its own home. Then in the same year, during the Australia tour, the Indian team lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy due to which the team could not make it to the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-2025 cycle. Under Gambhir’s leadership, India drew the five-match Test series 2-2 in England last year. After this, the team defeated West Indies at home, but India lost 0-2 in the two-match home Test series against South Africa. Earlier in the current cycle of WTC also, the condition of the team has worsened. Currently, India does not have to play Test matches for a long time because now the IPL 2026 season is starting. It is expected that soon the Indian Test team will also return to its old rhythm.
Awarded second title in six months amidst criticism
Gambhir was again targeted by critics after his poor performance in Test cricket, but in the limited overs format, the team won two titles in the last six months due to which Gambhir heaved a sigh of relief. During Gambhir’s tenure, India retained the Asia Cup trophy by defeating Pakistan in September last year. Last time the Asia Cup was played in T20 format and India won under the leadership of Suryakumar. Now six months later, India successfully defended the T20 World Cup on home soil. Thus, during Gambhir’s tenure, India has so far won two ICC trophies and one Asia Cup. There is no doubt that Gambhir and the Indian team will now have their eyes set on next year’s ODI World Cup. Interestingly, as a player, Gambhir was a part of the winning team of 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup and now as a coach, he has won two ICC trophies to his name.
