Earlier this year, Gautam Gambhir faced a dilemma. With the general elections months away, the then Lok Sabha MP is not sure if he wants to continue as a serious politician. At the back of his mind was a lucrative offer from Shah Rukh Khan, the owner of IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders. The one-time captain wanted to come back as a coach.
People close to Gambhir say that after consulting with friends and family, Gambhir decided to return to cricket. In his indecisive moments, a line from poet Harivansh Roy Bachchan’s famous poem guided him in taking the call: (If you get what you want, it’s good; if not, it’s good)”.
The return to cricket has paid off for him. After leading KKR to the 2024 IPL title and credited with the team’s turnaround, the 42-year-old Gambhir has now replaced Rahul Dravid as India’s new coach.
India’s drought in major ICC titles may have ended with the T20 World Cup win, but the dream of winning the Test Championship trophy and the ODI crown is yet to be quenched. Gambhir, who is known for his strong opinions, now has that opportunity. As a player, he had a phase when he reached stellar heights in glorious Indian triumphs – the 2007 ICC World T20 and 2011 ODI World Cup triumphs. After the recent T20 World Cup triumph, Gambhir’s appointment has raised expectations.
Gambhir’s acceptance of the announcement of his new job was routine. Neither his face nor an old picture of him with the World Cup trophies was pasted in the post. Instead, the national flag itself took prime estate: “India is my identity… even though I’m wearing a different hat, I’m proud to be back… The men in blue are the dreams of 1.4 billion Indians and I’ll do my best to make these dreams come true!”.
Coming from most others, this would have sounded like a platitude or even a cliché, but this is Gambhir. In the past, there has been a general preference for calm and composed coaches like Gary Kirsten, Rahul Dravid and Duncan Fletcher, and they are successfully gravitating towards the flamboyant Ravi Shastri. In that sense, Gambhir stands out for his intensity, overt-nationalist vibes and the way he sees the game itself.
By his own admission, he was not a sports fan; He didn’t find much joy in it. “To be honest I don’t think I enjoy cricket much. For me, I think cricket is my priority,” he had famously said.
India will now translate that priority on the field. Gambhir is one of the few Indian cricketers who does not see the game through the eyes of the stars. In theory, he’s less likely to jump to emotional conclusions about the longevity of star players, but, by his own example, he’s unlikely to dismiss players because of age.
Despite failing in Test cricket, he himself made a late comeback after completely revamping his technique and stance, playing tough fields. It was also seen in the support of West Indian off-spinner Sunil Narine and all-rounder Andre Russell in the IPL.
A lot has been said about Gambhir’s relationship with Virat Kohli, but if one scratches beneath the surface, the two are no different. Easy to offend, hugely competitive, with an aversion to failure. It’s no wonder the two get along so well in this new relationship. Lest we forget, it was under Kohli’s captaincy that Gambhir made his last comeback in international cricket, and the IPL was heralded as a series of on-field fights between the two.
Gambhir has shown appreciation for Rohit Sharma’s captaincy skills and can expect the relationship to be relatively smooth.
He is also known to support the team’s less celebrated players. It comes naturally to him as he has felt the brunt of it throughout his playing career. He will be open about his insecurities. “If I don’t get runs in two-three games, I start getting the feeling that I’m going to be dropped,” he once said.
There’s a line he recently said about the 2011 World Cup final that indicates how the world sees his opponents, and how he sees it. “I wish I would have finished that game. My job was to finish the game rather than leave it for someone to finish the game. If I had to turn back the clock, no matter how many runs I scored, I would go out there and score the last run,” he said.
Detractors bemoaned it for missing a chance to become a star, a status he never achieved with Indian fans as a player, and mocked MS Dhoni for finishing the match.
Gambhir sees it as an honest statement of failure from a set batsman at the time to do what the team needed and finish the game.
As a coach in the Gambhir era, fasten your seat belts for such frank, unadulterated, star-studded and eyebrow-raising quotes, but know that the car is driven by a passionate man whose motivations are usually on the honest side. . How he balances that passion and passion will determine his success.
