What is Gautam Gambhir's strategy and mantra as coach?

Gautam Gambhir has mentored Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises but no job can prepare you what he has in store now: head coach of the Indian cricket team. He has been appointed as the successor to Rahul Dravid with tour of Sri Lanka being his first assignment.

The former India cricketer has been known to be a great guide for youngsters and his success with Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL shows just that.

Most of the seniors who featured in the T20 World Cup 2024 are expected to be rested from the ODIs for the Sri Lanka series. For the T20I format, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja have retired.

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With the squad announcement impending, the official broadcaster of the World Cup, Star Sports, posted a video of Gautam Gambhir from 2023 where he speaks about ODI cricket and makes some interesting observations.

“First you need to identify players, who have got their fearless approach as well, probably in a format like 50 overs. You need to have a mixture of players. You need players who can anchor as well.

“Change in rule has made a huge difference. During that time you had one new ball. Now you have five new balls with five players inside. So, the role of a part-timer has gone out of the window. You don’t see enough reverse swing. You don’t see enough purchase for the finger spinners as well,” Gautam Gambhir said in the video.

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Why is it important to have a balanced mix of players in a team?
How have rule changes affected selection?

📹 | Watch Team India Head Coach, @GautamGambhir, discuss team formation, new approaches, and player identification.#MenInBlue #Cricket pic.twitter.com/bMoiJf08Cm

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) July 16, 2024

“But I always feel, when you talk about this new approach, you got to identify players who can adapt to those roles, or to that template very easily. Some people just cannot adapt to a template so why push them to play a certain way which doesn’t come naturally to them.

“So, for me identifying players and at the same time getting the right mix is very, very important rather than thinking that we have to play in a certain template, so we have to select all the 15 with a similar mindset or a similar template.”

Gambhir’s first big ticket assignment will be the Champions Trophy next year with the World Test Championship another prospect - if India go that far. It will be followed by the 2026 T20 World Cup and 2027 ODI World Cup.