Nine days after Rahul Dravid’s tenure ended as Team India head coach, following the T20 World Cup triumph, the BCCI on Tuesday confirmed Gautam Gambhir as his successor till December 2027.
“It is with immense pleasure that I welcome Mr Gautam Gambhir as the new Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah wrote on X. “Modern-day cricket has evolved rapidly, and Gautam has witnessed this changing landscape up close. Having endured the grind and excelled in various roles throughout his career, I am confident that Gautam is the ideal person to steer Indian Cricket forward.”
Gambhir appeared before the Ashok Malhotra-led Cricket Advisory Committee last month for an interview. It was more or less certain that the former India opener would step into Dravid’s shoes after the BCCI secretary convinced him to take up the role immediately after the IPL final in late May.
Gambhir emerged as the front-runner once National Cricket Academy chief VVS Laxman had made it known that he was not interested in taking up the head coach’s position on a long-term basis.
In his maiden seasonas mentor at KKR, Gambhir helped Kolkata KnightRiders to their third IPLtitle this year.
The 42-year-old will take charge from the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka, starting July 27. His immediate biggest challenge though will be the five-Test series in Australia from November 22.
The new head coach also took to X to express his feelings. “India is my identity and serving my country has been the greatest privilege of my life. I’m honoured to be back, albeit wearing a different hat. But my goal is the same as it has always been, to make every Indian proud. The men in blue shoulder the dreams of 1.4 billion Indians and I will do everything in my power to make these dreams come true!” he wrote.
The composition of Gambhir’s support staff was still unclear and the BCCI is expected to invite applications for the various positions. The contracts of current incumbents — batting coach Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey and fielding coach T. Dilip — ended in the West Indies.
The Board has decided to give Gambhir complete freedom in choosing his colleagues. KKR’s Abhishek Nayar, WV Raman, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Jonty Rhodes are in contention to make up his support staff.
Gambhir has always believed in team effort more than individual brilliance and Rohit Sharma’s men will maintain the same ideology in their quest for success.
“I always wanted to be on the winning side, otherwise no amount of centuries matter to me,” he said at an event in Calcutta a few days ago.
“You should never be scared of taking the right decisions with the right intent.”
He also provided a peek into his vision. “Individuals are important in a team sport but it’s not the be-all and end-all. Individuals do contribute but when everyone are treated equally and given the same responsibility, you will achieve huge rewards. We’ve got to treat everyone in the dressing room the same way, that’s the most important culture,” Gambhir said.
How he gels with the team, and Rohit in particular, could decide India’s fortunes.
