Ajit Agarkar and Gautam Gambhir kicked off their association with a bold move, picking Suryakumar Yadav as India’s T20I captain to replace Rohit Sharma over the then vice-captain Hardik Pandya. It gave an early peek into their thinking.
After Pandya’s last over heroics to win the 2024 T20 World Cup, the allrounder was the favourite to become captain. Surya had not even led an IPL team.
BCCI officials were taken by surprise and there was resistance, but chief selector Agarkar and head coach Gambhir prevailed with their argument on Pandya’s suspect fitness. It was the selection committee’s call, but Agarkar let Gambhir have a say in the key appointment. As chief selector, Agarkar never departed from this convention, even when they disagreed.
Being strong willed characters, both often saw cricket differently from others. Not always did the vision of Agarkar’s selection committee in picking the squad reflect in the playing eleven put out. But it didn’t take long for them to move on in respect of the other’s judgement. They knew the difference of opinion came from a good place.
It was reflected in Gambhir’s note of gratitude to Agarkar from his social media handle on Wednesday. "Dear Ajit Bhai, an absolute honour to work with you. Those 3 ICC trophies are testimony of your conviction: Team first & Team ahead, always... I must say, History will be kinder to you. Thank you for everything. My heartfelt wishes for your future endeavours !!," he posted on X.
{{/usCountry}}It was reflected in Gambhir’s note of gratitude to Agarkar from his social media handle on Wednesday. "Dear Ajit Bhai, an absolute honour to work with you. Those 3 ICC trophies are testimony of your conviction: Team first & Team ahead, always... I must say, History will be kinder to you. Thank you for everything. My heartfelt wishes for your future endeavours !!," he posted on X.
{{/usCountry}}Gambhir’s words “history will be kinder to you” carry heavy meaning. Despite overseeing three ICC trophies—the 2024 T20 World Cup with Rahul Dravid as head coach, the 2025 Champions Trophy, and the 2026 T20 World Cup with Gambhir – Agarkar left on a bitter note. BCCI though has belatedly put out a thank you note.
The cricket board’s strong disagreement with Agarkar’s view that India should look past 39-year-old former captain Rohit Sharma for next year’s ODI World Cup is known to have shut the doors on a possible extension for the chief selector. Both Agarkar and Gambhir had also expressed concerns, internally, over the Centre of Excellence’s (COE) injury management of players, with the scanner on COE head VVS Laxman. BCCI has called for applicants seeking Agarkar’s replacement, while Laxman now sits in selection meetings for better co-ordination with the panel.
At different times in Indian cricket, the power centre alternates between
chief selector, head coach and captain. During Virat Kohli’s tenure as captain, he was the boss and head coach Ravi Shastri his trusted ally. Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid worked seamlessly together. Agarkar and Gambhir then were quick to spot that the team was in need of urgent transition and they had to be the lead acts.
Once Rohit Sharma dropped himself from the Sydney Test on the 2024-25 Australian tour, the two architects of team planning had started searching for a new captain. They agreed on entrusting Test captaincy on the young shoulders of Shubman Gill.
Together, they didn’t get everything right. Some would argue, if Virat Kohli’s Test exit was handled more delicately, the batting star might have had another wind. Both Agarkar and Gambhir despised the star culture and a serious overture wasn’t made. As selector, it could be critiqued that Agarkar was bull-headed when it came to selecting cricketers over a certain age bracket.
At all times, Indian cricket stayed on the move. As T20 cricket speeded up, the duo knew to keep pace. To their credit, the squad that defended the T20 World Cup in 2026 was an improved version of the 2024 squad. Even after appointing Gill as Test and ODI captain to replace Rohit, they were not averse to dropping him from the T20I squad, close to the competition, for better team balance.
In the final equation, the man who replaced Gill, Sanju Samson came out as the batting hero in the knockout rounds of the tournament. Samson was backed by Gambhir while Agarkar was known to be less trusting of his ability. But he allowed the coach the personnel of his choice.
On other occasions, Agarkar would stick his neck out against Gambhir’s opinion – he backed Shreyas Iyer as T20I captain to replace Surya, while the latter saw a future in Samson. Earlier, when Shreyas’s position was being debated for the 2025 Champions Trophy squad, Agarkar had the final say. Shreyas scored the most runs for India.
Despite their synergy, the two couldn’t deliver the goods when it came to Test cricket. It may be that the transition moves will bear fruit over time. Agarkar might have been most comfortable working with Gambhir’s predecessor Dravid when most selections were based on time-tested processes – they also had a fit and performing Rohit as captain – but he truly came into his own as chief selector with Gambhir.
Their coming together happened at a time when Indian cricket needed a shake-up and a less authoritative chief selector-head coach combination might have wilted.