Those who know Gautam Gambhir described him as “boring consistent”, no person who has not even changed his food pattern in the last 20 years. An experiment is out of question. He likes to wear his denims for casual ceremonies and has not changed for years. But when it comes to cricket, his brain is always standing and demanding solutions to various strategic problems. It has been eight months since Gambhir took over the national team after Rahul Dravid ended with the victory of the T20 World Cup in July. The person of the old Rajinder Nagar of Delhi has seen some heartbreaking and surprising as well as success. He has seen both ends of the spectrum with high testing deficit of the Champions Trophy and low of six test deficit.
The victory of the whistle has come as a breath of fresh air and ‘Guru Gambhir’ will get a chance to analyze a big picture as Indian cricket is expected to go through sea change over the next two important years.
It would not be wrong to say that Gambhir has completed his probation period and will come in a phase where he will have three different challenges, which will begin with England’s test tour.
As usual, the T20 is known as the IPL just after the spectacle, which does not have time for preparation.
His second major challenge will be the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka where Suryakumar Yadav’s men will defend his title.
And the final but of course South Africa does not have at least 2027 ODI World Cup, which will be a Narkuva challenge.
If anyone separates Gambhir’s coaching in format, he has already made a magnificent core for the T20 team. Even Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja went to sunset in the smallest format, their absence was hardly felt that India is playing in T20 as a new brand of cricket, earning them globally.
He has detected a gem in Abhishek Sharma.
When Varun Chakraborty and Jasprit Bumrah bowls during a global meeting (World T20), there will be a bad dream for those eight overs batsmen. Sanju Samson has found his Mojo, although Rishabh Pant will be around and hence will be Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Arshdeep Singh has a vipul powerplay wicket-taking wicket and has at least three seams all-rounders in Hardik Pandya, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shivam Dubey.
Surya and Ecper are old guards in this team with Hardik. It is a team that includes all its Aadhaar and is running on an auto-pilot with a twee here and there.
But these are the other two formats where severe, strategists, disciplines and man-manager will have to merge for results.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have made it clear that they are never retiring from ODIs soon. Retirement is a personal call and both performed in the Champions Trophy.
But during 2027, the World Cup Gambhir will not have the option to use four expert spinners and create magic with yoga within the range of 240-250.
The score will be on the high side and the question is whether Rohit can enough with Kohli with his small and aggressive burst, which is now more than an anchor now.
Rohit has said that he will not be retired, but was also uncertain about his participation in the 2027 World Cup. Here, Gambhir will have to step. Gambhir’s, ‘Team First’ philosophy will not change.
He hates superstar culture. He has great respect for artists which are neutrality neutral.
It would not be surprising if he demands clarity from both the National Selection Committee along with the board, how he plans to see Rohit in a ODI plan of things with only 27 ODI games before the World Cup.
Will another issue be the next captain to move forward? Shubman Gill is a terrible ODI player and Rohit’s deputy, but Hardik Pandya is also a good leader who believes in implementing the coach’s strategy in ‘T’.
He performed well with another football team in Titans, Gujarat with head coach Ashish Nehra.
In the immediate future, Gambhir will also have to deal with the Test Cricket Squad where he will face the maximum challenge.
If Rohit plays and the top-3 is Jaiswal and KL Rahul, the test will place the cricketer, Shubman Gill.
Will he receive all the three Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammad Sirraj in the best shape for the series where swing and seam will be the day’s order.
And for some time what happens with that middle-order slot for India’s Akilis heel. Will Karun Nair fit there or Shreyas Iyer should regain his test place? ‘Guru Gambhir’ has a truly difficult option, but he is never afraid of making bold decisions.
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