After months of rumours, BCCI finally decided to appoint Gautam Gambhir as India’s next head coach earlier this week. Gambhir, 42, is the youngest person to be appointed as India’s head coach and will replace his former team-mate Rahul Dravid.
Gambhir will take over as India’s next head coach from the upcoming white-ball series against Sri Lanka. Interestingly, Gambhir had no coaching experience prior to taking up the head coaching role, but he did serve as a mentor for Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders for a cumulative period of 3 years.
It will also be interesting to see how Gambhir handles the senior players in the team such as Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja and the like. Gambhir and Kohli also share a complicated love-hate relationship, which is sure to come under the spotlight as time goes on.
Meanwhile, former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn has said that Kohli and other senior players may not play a major role in Gambhir’s India team. Steyn also said that Gambhir will bring his aggression to the Indian dressing room, which could be a good thing for the Men in Blue.
Dale Steyn on Gautam Gambhir’s coaching tenure:
In an interaction with Star Sports, Dale Steyn said, “I’m a big fan of Gautam Gambhir. I love his aggression. He’s one of the few Indians I ever played against who came back at you, and I like that. I think he’s going to take that into the dressing room with guys like Virat and some of the other senior players who might not play as big a part anymore. I’m not too sure. Not just in India, but in world cricket, we need guys who are a little bit more aggressive and play the game a little bit harder,”
“We all seem to play in the leagues against each other, and we become quite friendly and friends. I like the way that he’s fierce on the field but a gentleman off the field. He’s also streetwise, a very smart cricketer, and has a great cricket brain. So I think from that point of view, he’s going to be fantastic for them too,”