“Gautam Gambhir gives results, that’s why he is India’s coach.” That’s the reply you’ll get if you raise the burning question in the top echelons of the BCCI. The common refrain that Gambhir gives results is, however, only the partial truth.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Gambhir, during the course of his one-and-a-half year reign in Indian cricket as head coach, has won an ICC Champions Trophy in extremely helpful conditions in Dubai and an Asia Cup at the same venue against sub-par teams, triggering euphoria among fans.
Come to the real thing, however — Test cricket — and his stint has been nothing short of a train wreck. India were brilliantly placed on the last World Test Championship (WTC) ladder in 2024 and a spot in the final was a foregone conclusion when he took charge. In four months’ time, the dream was over, with the team losing six Tests matches — three at home to New Zealand and three to Australia away.Come the new cycle, the team didn’t have to deal with superstar seniors because both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had retired from Tests. But India have already lost three Tests out of the eight that they have played, and are now sitting fourth on the WTC table.India’s Test results under head coach Gautam Gambhir
After the second Test against South Africa in Guwahati, India only have two away tours to New Zealand and Sri Lanka, followed by five Tests against Australia at home in the beginning of 2027. The road to the final is looking tricky, to say the least, and Gambhir simply cannot avoid the blame.The first point that has put Gambhir’s role under the scanner is his choice of surfaces when playing Tests in India. “This was exactly the pitch that we wanted,” Gambhir said after India’s humbling defeat at Eden Gardens on Sunday in a game that got over in two and a half days, again.But Gambhir is bullish. He chose similar surfaces for the New Zealand series last year, ending in India being whitewashed at home. In another day and age, that would have been enough to raise serious questions about his red-ball coaching credentials, but perhaps BCCI knows the storm will blow over with a quick interlude of white-ball success.Series by Series Performance
The likes of Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara, among others, have cried themselves hoarse about the stubborn preference for underprepared tracks, saying that playing on such surfaces don’t help India at all and rather has the opposite effect. Ashwin had recently asked: “A traditional Indian turner is where both the edges of the bat are challenged and there is preferably some bounce. Why aren’t we playing on such tracks?”Referring to India’s two recent wins in England, WV Raman, India’s former women’s team coach, told TOI, “When you provide the sort of pitch that was dished out at the Eden, you are bringing opposition spinners into play. India’s bowling attack has a lot more control but on such pitches, the superior skill is almost negated. If India were playing the long game, the spinners would have had a much better chance to win the game for us while the batters would have enjoyed their time in the middle.”Gambhir’s argument is that he wants to take the toss out of the equation by playing on pitches like these. But that’s exactly what is not happening — of the four Test losses at home in the last one year, India have lost the toss thrice and have been made to bat second. Bowlers like Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel, Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj — who might have struggled to find a place in some of the top Ranji Trophy teams — have at times looked unplayable, making lives miserable for Indian batters.How long did the home Tests which India have lost since Gambhir took over last?
Constant chopping and changingWhile the choice of tracks has been widely criticized, the second point that has come up for some serious debate is Gambhir’s choice of playing XI. The coach, riding the crest of whiteball success that he has had in IPL and international circuit, has tried to bring in the ‘horses-for-courses’ policy in Test cricket too.This has led to constant chopping and changing. The No. 3 spot has become a game of musical chairs. Since the former Delhi cricketer has taken over, we’ve seen Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Sai Sudharshan and Washington Sundar taking turns to bat in a spot that is meant for specialists. With extreme impatience calling the shots, none of the players are getting any time to get settled, and that’s not exactly working wonders.
“It is not always about skill, which all the players you’re mentioning have. It is about temperament. A specialist in a spot like that has the temperament to bat longer and concentrate harder, something that a player who is not used to it, may lack. In white-ball it’s a shorter game, so time is not a big enough variable, unlike Test cricket,” Raman, who once worked with Gambhir as his personal coach, said.The former India batter added that if Gambhir believes Washington is his man for the No. 3 slot, he should be allowed to settle in. “I know Washy, he is a very capable bat up the order. If you see the potential, let him develop, don’t change his slot right away in the next game. That can lead to confusion,” Raman said, adding that six bowling options is an unnecessary luxury on tracks as treacherous as Eden’s.“Play five bowlers and add an extra specialist batter, that’s good enough,” the senior coach suggested.It’s anyone’s guess, however, whether Gambhir can be persuaded to alter his plans.
