Gambhir Problems: He wants his team but will he get that?

PTI, Dec 22, 2024, 11:55 AM IST

Gautam Gambhir (PTI / File)

Melbourne: Transitions are never easy. More so when a dressing room is dotted with superstars, who are in the Twilight Zone of their glittering careers.

And it’s for this reason, India head coach Gautam Gambhir finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place.

Indian cricket’s big transition has started with Ravichandran Ashwin’s retirement.

And Gambhir might have to be the ‘Harbinger of Doom’ for some of the megastars if the currently tied Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia does not end up being decisively in India’s favour in Melbourne and Sydney.

While Ashwin took the hard call himself, anyone with a basic understanding of Indian cricket would know that Gambhir’s decision to include Washington Sundar at the senior pro’s expense was the biggest trigger.

Skipper Rohit Sharma wasn’t even in Perth when the decision was made.

There are four big names — Virat Kohli, Rohit, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami — in the Indian dressing room right now.

Shami isn’t playing this series but not being able to even join the team hasn’t actually left him in a good space.

While the senior selection committee chaired by Ajit Agarkar will have a say, the names in question are big enough to warrant a respectable discussion before being given the final nudge.

But unlike his predecessor Rahul Dravid, nuance isn’t exactly Gambhir’s biggest forte.

To be fair to Gambhir, Dravid didn’t have to deal with a transition this huge but he did actually tell Ishant Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha that their days in national colours were over.

Neither Ishant nor Saha were as big a star as the quartet mentioned above and they walked away quietly.

The focus has been squarely on seniors and especially skipper Rohit and Virat for their underwhelming form.

However Gambhir, whose appointment as head coach created a lot of buzz, is also very much under the lens.

Eight Tests since his arrival have thrown up four defeats, a draw and three victories. These are not results that the fiery opener would have envisaged.

The celebrations after saving a follow on in Brisbane were mistaken for joy.

Anyone familiar with the dynamics of competitive sport would know that the high-fives were more a display of relief.

Will his position as head coach become untenable if India don’t qualify for the World Test Championship final? The answer is a “No” at this point.

Will it be untenable if India don’t win the Champions Trophy? Perhaps not as both the ongoing series and the next 50-over ICC event will comprise a core that has been there for a considerable period of time.

Is the BCCI ready to give Gambhir a free hand to create a team of his own where he would be the master planner with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah (possible next Test skipper) and Suryakumar Yadav (T20 skipper) executing his strategy? It can’t happen right away but it’s not too far either.

Those who know Gambhir insist that his heart is in the right place even when he takes harsh or seemingly risky calls. Nitish Reddy and Harshit Rana were his choices and they have not been bad.

But the Indian dressing room, where player power has always prevailed, requires a lot of patience from a coach to earn the trust of players.

John Wright, Gary Kirsten and Ravi Shastri were able to earn that trust but Greg Chappell and Anil Kumble, despite being legends, failed to click.

Gambhir’s situation is more like what Duncan Fletcher endured in 2011 when he took over an ageing team.

By the time the 2014 England away series concluded, India under Fletcher’s stewardship had lost 11 Tests (seven in England and four in Australia).

Shastri was appointed as Cricket Director to oversee Fletcher, which was basically aimed at sidelining the Zimbabwean.

The world remembers Gambhir for being a hero in two World Cup finals and the brain behind KKR’s three IPL trophies — two as captain and one as coach.

But a lesser known fact about Gambhir is that in 2017, he relinquished Delhi Capitals captaincy midway through IPL for Shreyas Iyer.

He dropped himself from the playing eleven when he was unable to handle the pressure.

The temperamental left-hander was nearly 37 then.

The world will know in the coming days if Guru Gambhir is able to withstand the pressure of international coaching and also get the team of his choice.