England coach Brendon McCullum on Monday described his Indian counterpart Gautam Gambhir as a “strong leader” and backed him to achieve success with the national team in the near future. Gambhir, who took over as India’s head coach across all formats after India’s title win in the T20 World Cup last year, has faced intense scrutiny after the team’s disappointing performances against New Zealand and Australia. But former New Zealand captain McCullum has backed his former KKR teammate to play his role well.
“What I will say about Gautam Gambhir is that I have worked with him before. He is an excellent leader. He is a really strong people leader, and whenever he has been in any kind of leadership positions before He has been capable of achieving excellence,” McCullum told reporters here.
“He’s just getting into the groove of this team, but I have no doubt that he’ll get the best out of his talent. And then we (England) have to find a way to be able to compete with him in our own style.” Together,” the former New Zealand batsman said.
India suffered an unprecedented 0-3 defeat against the Kiwis at home and then suffered a 1-3 loss to Australia, ruining their chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) final for the third consecutive time. Hopes were dashed.
Gambhir’s tenure got off to a bad start when India lost a bilateral ODI series against Sri Lanka for the first time in 27 years last August.
However, under Gambhir’s leadership, India won against Bangladesh on home soil.
Since taking over the reigns, Gambhir has been expressing strong opposition to India’s star culture, ultimately forcing the BCCI to formulate 10-point guidelines.
But many have also criticized Gambhir’s coaching style, as under his leadership the team lost six out of 10 Tests and one bilateral ODI series against Sri Lanka.
On the subject of coaching styles and philosophies, McCollum said, “I don’t really know… Sometimes I had a lot of, like, coach to be honest, if that’s the right word. It’s kind of, I think everyone really does things differently, and everyone has a very unique approach.” McCullum, who is in the country with the England team for the upcoming limited overs series against India, believes the best way to work is to create a “happy environment” for the players to excel.
“You know, the way I try and operate, I think it’s probably less about being a coach and more about trying to make sure the environment is happy and enjoyable, where You want people to feel as if they can pursue their talents and push themselves into uncomfortable situations, knowing that there will be support and care afterward to navigate those situations again. Will be encouraged.
“Other coaches are very different. They like to run things in quite a structured, quite technical way. Other coaches are probably a little more methodical about things, but I think it’s quite different,” McCullum said.
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