It’s been almost a year since Gautam Gambhir took over as India’s head coach. He took over after Rahul Dravid stepped down after India’s T20 World Cup win in the West Indies.
That was a perfect send-off for Dravid to walk away as a World Cup winning coach, something many legends never achieve.
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Interestingly, as a player Dravid’s last matches didn’t end well:
Last Test – Lost
Last ODI – Lost
Last T20I – Lost
Last match as captain – Lost
Last World Cup match – Lost
But in his last ever match as coach, India finally gave him a win to remember. A true farewell for The Wall.
After Dravid stepped down there was a brief search for the next coach. VVS Laxman wasn’t interested. Ricky Ponting was in the mix but not seriously.
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Then Gambhir – who had just led KKR to the IPL title as mentor – was given the job. He officially started on July 9, 2024.
Fans were excited. Gambhir had a reputation of being passionate, aggressive, no-nonsense. A new chapter was beginning.
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India won the Champions Trophy in March, a big early win under Gambhir. But things haven’t been smooth in the longer format.
Under him India has played 11 Tests and won just three against Bangladesh and one against Australia. India lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-3 and are now 0-1 down in England with four more Tests to play.
This has raised questions. Is Gambhir struggling with red-ball cricket? Or is it just growing pains during a team transition?
After the poor Test results people started talking about split coaching – let Gambhir focus on white-ball cricket and give someone else (maybe Laxman) the red-ball charge.
But the BCCI has never been a fan of split roles. When Virat Kohli gave up T20 captaincy in 2021 the board didn’t go ahead with split captaincy either.
Even today Suryakumar Yadav leads the T20I side only because he’s not in the ODI XI.
Gambhir is here to stay across all formats. His contract runs till 2027 World Cup and insiders say even if India loses the England series 0-5 his position is not under threat. The Team Is in Transition and So Is the Coach.
A BCCI official told InsideSport:
“You can’t expect quick results with a young team. Australia and England also went through this phase. We’re still hoping to turn things around in England. Gambhir has full support.”
Fair point the Indian team is in transition. Several senior players are gone and youngsters are coming in. It’s a big rebuilding phase. But Test cricket demands results and patience won’t last forever.
This year hasn’t just been about wins and losses. After the loss in Australia, reports came out about leaked dressing room conversations. Then both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from Test cricket.
While both said it was their decision, many fans feel the timing wasn’t a coincidence.
Rohit told Michael Clarke he was looking forward to the England tour. Kohli told his Delhi coach he wanted to score “3-4 centuries”. So why quit now? Theories are floating that they were pushed out quietly.
Some say Gambhir has brought more energy especially in white ball cricket. Others feel Dravid was more stable and handled pressure better.
But this is a fact: Dravid left with a World Cup win, something Gambhir is yet to achieve.
At the same time Gambhir is dealing with a younger team, fresh retirements and big Test challenges not an easy start.
Gambhir’s first year as India coach has been eventful a trophy in hand but questions in red ball cricket and a few controversies off the field.
Yes there’s pressure. Yes there are concerns. But this is just the start of his journey. The real test begins now with England, West Indies, South Africa and New Zealand lined up.
Will Gambhir prove his critics wrong and build a new team that delivers across formats? Only time will tell.
