 "Team India head coach at a training session ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy final against New Zealand in Dubai. Image: PTI")
Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik recently shared his thoughts on the current India head coach Gautam Gambhir’s coaching style during an episode of the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast. Karthik praised Gambhir for his tactical skills but also gave him some honest advice about the challenges of coaching.
Karthik’s honest take on Gambhir
Karthik pointed out that coaching is very different from captaincy. He said that Gambhir’s aggressive nature as a captain may not work the same way when he is a coach. According to Karthik, coaching involves handling many different personalities and trusting players to do their job once they are on the field.
“Tactically, Gauti (Gautam Gambhir) is a very good coach. Man management is the area that I am sure he would be looking at. But one thing about him is that he is looking out for his players which is massive. What I feel at times is that the way he is aggressive as a captain, you can’t be as a coach. You are managing different individuals. Once you let them out in the park, you trust them to do the job. That is the challenge,” Karthik said.
Even though Gambhir has tasted success in limited-overs in a very short time, his tenure as Test coach has not gone as planned yet. In his first assignment as the red-ball coach, India lost a three-match home Test series to New Zealand. They went on to lose the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia and were knocked out of the World Test Championship final race.
Gambhir and his team received a lot of criticism for the disaster but they recovered well and went on to win the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Now, Gambhir’s latest task is to help India win a Test series in England. With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired, India have travelled with a new-look team. Shubman Gill is the new captain, and Rishabh Pant is his deputy.
Gambhir and his men will look to bring the trophy home and start the new cycle of the World Test Championship on a positive note. The series will start on 20 June at Headingley, Leeds.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIndia’s squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC & WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav