The coaching tenure of the new head coach of India, Gautam Gambhir, hasn’t been a healthy one from the beginning. Despite their whitewash by a 0-3 margin in Sri Lanka under the new captain, Suryakumar Yadav, the Blue Brigade has failed on multiple occasions where hardly one predicted them to lose.
The ODI series in Sri Lanka found the senior members of the Indian team making a comeback in the series after going through the break in Zimbabwe at the end of their winning campaign in the T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA). Gautam Gambhir, as the coach of the side, saw them losing the 50-over series in Sri Lanka.
The expectation was huge on the former Delhi opening batter, who replaced Rahul Dravid as the new head coach after the 20-over World Cup and was expected to carry the Blue Brigade forward in the game. The biggest challenge for him was qualification for the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2024-25.
Also Read: Wasim Akram Boasts “Pakistan Can Beat India Now” After New Zealand Whitewash
The Indian team was under tremendous pressure, having lost their first five wickets of the batting department in the opening game of the two-match Test series at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai against Bangladesh before their lower order saved them from the failure of the batting department.
Sunil Gavaskar looks back at the coaching stint of Gautam Gambhir
The poor drainage facilities at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur due to the constant rain expected something extra-ordinary from the Indian team management to earn a result in the contest. The ultra-aggressive mode from Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir helped them get a vital victory in the contest, which collected enough praise around the globe.
But things changed again as they met New Zealand for the three-match red-ball series at home. In the first of the three-match Test series at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, the Blue Brigade had hardly any reply against the top-class pace bowling attack of the Kiwi side, who crumbled the hosts for just 46, India’s third-lowest innings total in the format. Even though they showed character with the bat in the second innings, it was never enough to save them from the 36-year-old record of not losing any Test match against the side.
The team management produced slow and low-rank turners in the second and third Test matches in Pune and Mumbai, which exposed the batting department against the spinners. Apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant, none of the batters have shown any resistance against the spinners in that series.
The former Indian captain and a renowned commentator, Sunil Gavaskar, has looked back at the results of the Gautam Gambhir coaching stint in the last three months.
Also Read: Rohit Sharma To Be Sacked As Test Captain From BGT 2024-25? Former Indian Captain Warns
“The results speak for themselves. Even in Sri Lanka, India lost an ODI series after a long time. And now here, it’s a loss, it’s a terrible loss. So, I think the results speak for themselves.” The former Indian opening batter addressed in an interaction on Sports Tak.
Now, the acid test before Gautam Gambhir will be the upcoming five-match Test series against Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, and will need to have a 4-0 victory to qualify for the WTC 2023-25 final.