Gautam Gambhir took over the reins as the head coach in July 2024 but the initial few months of his tenure have been far from ideal. Under the former India opening batter, India lost the ODI series against Sri Lanka after 27 years. Rohit Sharma and co then suffered a whitewash in the three-Test series against New Zealand. To top it all off, India recently lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia after 10 years.
Former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has predicted a tricky road for Gautam Gambhir in the next few months. However, he also believes that Gambhir needs to be given some time.
Ever since Gambhir took over the charge, there have been reports of unrest within the dressing room, and questions have also been raised about his equation with Rohit Sharma.
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Dinesh Karthik said, "I think, when it comes to Gautam Gambhir, you got to cut him some slack a little bit because I think he has come in at a very tough time. Post a successful regime of Rahul Dravid, it’s never easy to fill those shoes."
It is important to state that Gambhir is yet to lose a T20I series. However, the results in ODIs and Tests have been poor. The next big assignment is the Champions Trophy, which has a lot riding on it.
“He has found success, an immense success in T20 cricket, where he’s had a lot of young boys. He’s been able to have, I would dare say, a massive influence over them. But in Test cricket, he has had the going very hard," said Gambhir.
{{/usCountry}}“He has found success, an immense success in T20 cricket, where he’s had a lot of young boys. He’s been able to have, I would dare say, a massive influence over them. But in Test cricket, he has had the going very hard," said Gambhir.
{{/usCountry}}“Yes, the Bangladesh series was a success and I think post that, things have just gone downhill for him,” he added.
'Is he happy with the current set of players?'
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had a poor series against Australia, with both senior pros struggling for runs. After the loss, Gautam Gambhir stated in a press conference that Rohit and Virat must make decisions about their future.
Commenting on this, Dinesh Karthik said, "He wants them to take the decision as to what they feel is best. I think the biggest decision for him to make is, is he very, very happy with his current set of players?"
"Is he able to influence them over decision-making? Are they aligned with his thought process? What is his ideology of how the Test team should look? And are these players fitting in? If that is the case, great. If not, then you have to obviously figure out what is the best way moving forward. Test cricket has been hard for Gautam Gambhir,” he added.