The former player of the Indian cricket team and the mentor of the Kolkata Knight Riders and the one who captained the team leading them to two world cup victories is in the headlines trending to possibly becoming the next head coach for the Indian Cricket team.
It was reported that, BCCI approached Gautam first before releasing the application for the head coach of India,making him their first priority for the Job role.
Why do the BCCI consider Gautam Gambhir the best Candidate for the Head Coach for the Indian Team?
Gautam Gambhir has a remarkable international record of 10,000 runs across all formats that includes 20 centuries. His tenure in cricket was remarkable from 2008-2011, where he played crucial matches in both the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup.
The reasons why BCCI is so keen on having Gambhir as the head coach of Indian Cricket Team of all formats is because of his leadership skills and strategic mind set and he demonstrated while captaining for the KKR leading them to two IPL titles and his ability to mentor and guide teams to playoffs as seen with Lucknow SuperGiants and makes him an even stronger candidate for the head coach role.
Challenges Gautam Gambhir Might Face If He Accepts the Offer of Being the Indian Head Coach
Being a head coach is a huge responsibility and comes along with its own set of challenges. If chosen, Gambhir would take over from Rahul Dravid as the coach for all the formats of the game. It would be a demanding job and would require constant travel until the 2027 World Cup.
Alongside coaching India, Gautam Gambhir would also have to mentor Kolkata Knight Riders. It would be a tough job and people of the nation would have high expectations from Gambhir and a lot of pressure.
Akram has supported the BCCI’s action of approaching Gambhir to take up the next Head coach after Rahul Dravid for the benefit of the Indian team. In one of the interviews, he highlighted the pros and cons of Gambhir given the roles and responsibilities showing his full support.
Wasim Akram’s Words Highlighting the Pros and Cons of Gautam Gambhir for the Head Coach Position
According to Wasim Akram’s perspective, Gautam Gambhir is the best candidate for the head coach of the Indian Team and highlighted both his pros and cons, during one of his interviews. According to Akram, Gautam Gambhir has great leadership skills as evident through IPL performances, a tactical mind and a winning mentality that can prove very helpful for the team.
However, the job would be very time consuming as then he would have to mentor and coach both KKR and the Indian National team respectively,which might be hectic. He won’t be able to give much time to his family in the midst of coaching and mentoring endeavors.
“Yeah, he is the best candidate. It depends on whether Gautam accepts it. He has also left politics because it took too much time. It is a time-consuming job. He is a very intelligent person, so he realized it’s not easy. He has two lovely daughters,”
| Gautam Gamnbhir’s Pros | Gautam Gambhir’s Cons |
| Leadership: Gambhir’s leadership qualities, which led Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL titles, are highly regarded. | Aggressiveness: His aggressive nature could be a double-edged sword, potentially leading to conflicts. |
| Tactical Mind: His strategic approach to the game is seen as a significant asset. | Adaptability: Questions arise about his ability to adapt his straightforward style to the diverse personalities in the team. |
| Winning Mentality: Gambhir’s experience in winning crucial matches for India is invaluable. | – |
On the other hand, Akram pointed out his aggressive and blunt demeanor, which arises from the winning mindset may disrupt the team’s dynamics.
“GG is very simple. Straightforward. Not a difficult person. But he speaks clearly, bluntly and doesn’t think twice, a quality that isn’t part of Indian cricket culture. In our culture, we say things that don’t offend people. But GG is someone who, if he doesn’t like something, will say it to your face. That’s his quality and that’s why everyone likes him.
He gets aggressive at times, but that’s him as a person. He will bring that same aggression in the team, but it all boils down to whether he agrees to take up the role,” he added.
Akram suggests that while Gambhir’s cricketing experience and insights are valuable, the role demands a careful balance of other traits that needs to be taken care of while coaching a national team.
Three Candidates Suitable for Being Head coach of India According to Wasim Akram
Following all the conversation and praising Gautam Gambhir and calling him the best candidate for being the national head coach of India, Akram took the name of Ashish Nehra and VVS Laxman.
According to him, these two are also good choices for being the best candidate for head coach of the team after Gautam Gambhir. He praised gambhir’s straightforward and blunt communicative nature as both a pro and a con of him along with Ashish Nehra.
Akram considered Ashish Nehra as being a people’s person, well liked by all and a person with positive presence that could be beneficial for the team morale. He also nominated VVS Laxman, due to his cricketing experience and understanding of the game, however Laxman clearly denied, showing no potential interest for the Job Role.
Also,as per a few sources, it is believed that Akram nominated his name along with the two,for the head coach role given his past performances and experience of the game as well.
Let’s take a look at the brief overview on the past performances of the Ashish, Laxman and Akram, to know more about who deserves the role more, from below:
| Player | Format | Matches | Runs/Wickets | Centuries/Best Bowling | Fifties | Fours | Sixes |
| Gautam Gambhir | Test | 58 | 4154 runs | 9 centuries | 22 | 517 | 10 |
| ODI | 147 | 5238 runs | 11 centuries | 34 | 561 | 17 | |
| T20I | 37 | 932 runs | 0 | 7 | 109 | 10 | |
| Ashish Nehra | Test | 17 | 44 wickets | 0 | – | – | – |
| ODI | 120 | 157 wickets | 0 | – | – | – | |
| T20I | 27 | 34 wickets | 0 | – | – | – | |
| VVS Laxman | Test | 134 | 8781 runs | 17 centuries | 56 | 1135 | 5 |
| ODI | 86 | 2338 runs | 6 centuries | 10 | 222 | 4 | |
| Wasim Akram | Test | 104 | 2898 runs | 3 centuries | 7 | – | – |
| ODI | 356 | 3717 runs | 0 | 6 | – | – | |
| Conclusion: Most Suitable Candidate | Gautam Gambhir | ||||||
The chances are high for Gautam Gambhir to take up the role of the Head coach of India with the entire nation keen on having him onboard, however there has not been any confirmation from Gambhir’s side. He is currently busy with the IPL team KKR,and it has qualified into the finals and is waiting for its competitor to step in.
As he is the first priority of the BCCI, people are looking forward to seeing what his response would be. If he accepts the offer, then there won’t be any more Indian Head Coach applications rolling as Gambhir would be then liable to coach the team until 2027.
