Gautam Gambhir took over as the head coach of the Indian cricket team from Rahul Dravid after the T20 World Cup. Gambhir begins his stint with the Sri Lanka T20I series with a lot of expectations.
Among the many key responsibilities for Gautam Gambhir to handle, the biggest of them will be about handling the senior players in the squad. The squad now revolved around Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah.
Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar chose Suryakumar Yadav over Hardik Pandya as the next T0I skipper of India. Thus he also has the responsibility of looking after Hardik and SKY in the T20I side. The management has very clearly specified that SKY will lead the T20I side and he is not in consideration for ODIs as yet.
Meanwhile, Dinesh Karthik in a “Hey CB” session with Cricbuzz spoke about what will be Gambhir’s approach to maintaining the dressing room atmosphere with all the senior players part of the white-ball sides. He said that Gambhir will maintain a smooth transition in this phase.
Also Read: Dinesh Karthik reveals the bowler who haunted him, calls Pakistan ‘favorite team’ but there’s a twist
Outwardly He Is A Different Person: Dinesh Karthik On Gautam Gambhir
“Gautam Gambhir has all the credentials to take care of the players in terms of taking care of their mindset, prep, and to keep a harmonious dressing room. I have heard that his dressing rooms are generally relaxed and very good even though outwardly he feels like a different person that is the case with him as Gautam Gambhir the coach and he has got a support staff, who he really believes in.”
“All of them are people that he trusts and they will be doing everything they can to help Gautam Gambhir in his journey as the coach said,” Dinesh Karthik said.
The Indian team now had had a few training sessions under his watchful eyes and all maintained laughs and smiles while they were training. Hardik and Surya too were seen smiling as sides competed in a game of direct hit. Gambhir was also seen smiling as well.
Ahead of the first T20I against Sri Lanka, Gautam Gambhir was sent a special message by Rahul Dravid as he congratulated him on becoming the next head coach of the Indian team.
He further wished him good luck on his journey with the team and gave him a few suggestions that he acquired from his experience as the head coach of the side with this young group of players.
Gautam Gambhir who have played 74 international matches alongside Rahul Dravid and a few of them under his captaincy did get emotional seeing this video.
He said that he would try to live up to his expectations and set the benchmark as high as he did for the team if not more. Rahul Dravid won the T20 World Cup as India’s head coach and also took the team to the ODI World Cup final.
He also built some special relationships with players especially Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli which Gambhir now needs to carry forward. India plays three T20Is against Sri Lanka which kickstarts Gambhir’s stint as India’s head coach.
The first T20I will be played on July 27 in Pallekele. The next two will be played on July 28 and July 20. The ODIs then will be played in Colombo on August, 2, 4, and 7.
Also Read: IND vs SL Match Preview- 1st T20I, India Tour of Sri Lanka 2024
Leave feedback about this