Tricky task of tackling multiple skippers
Rahul Dravid worked with seven different captains in his first year as coach but that wasn’t by design. As Indian cricket’s playing group transitions towards a more youthful look, new coach Gautam Gambhir may again have to work with different captains for each format to begin with.
The Indian team will be playing 15 T20Is after the Zimbabwe series and before next year’s ODI Champions trophy. While the focus remains on adding another ICC silverware to the cabinet, these T20Is will being an ideal opportunity to increase the feeder line for the next T20 World Cup; particularly now that Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja have bid goodbye to the format.
Hardik Pandya, whose first stint as India T20I captain proved to be a false dawn is finally set to get the responsibility with the future in mind. After a forgettable IPL as MI captain, Hardik came up with some match-winning contributions in India’s T20 World Cup win and will be one of the captains for Gambhir to connect with. One understands, Hardik is among the few players who was sounded out by BCCI before Gambhir’s appointment was made official.
The national selectors led by Ajit Agarkar will be meeting with Gambhir soon to pick squads for the T20I and ODI matches in Sri Lanka. With Rohit, Virat and Jasprit Bumrah on an extended rest, Hardik’s workload will determine his future outlook. If a stop-gap captain is announced, KL Rahul, who last led India in an ODI series may lead. Gambhir and Rahul worked together as mentor-captain for Lucknow Super Giants.
After being out of T20 reckoning, Rahul’s performances will be closely watched. While he has time on his hand for a T20 return, Rahul is also being seen as a captaincy backup for Rohit in the Test format. It hasn’t helped though that the stylish batter from Bengaluru has remained injury prone. Among the young crop, Shubman Gill is being earmarked for the job.
Gambhir’s elevation to India’s head coach position had been in the works for months. It wouldn’t have mattered if Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) hadn’t won the IPL title. The head coach interview process was meant to be nothing but a formality.
In Gambhir, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) saw a man of stature and integrity - qualifications that carried more weight than format-specific expertise. Besides they weren’t keen to hand over reigns to an overseas professional. With VVS Laxman unwilling to take the plunge, the options were limited.
Before it was made known to the world though, the biggest apprehension was around Gambhir’s interpersonal relationship with some of the players he has played with. At 42, Gambhir is India’s youngest-ever head coach and retired only five and a half years back. Gambhir’s testy relationship with Virat Kohli was one prickly point.
It is public knowledge that Rohit Sharma would have liked more of Dravid, if only for another year. But Dravid wanted to move on. With Rohit’s future beyond the 2025 WTC difficult to predict, BCCI wanted to offer Gambhir a longer rope to draw his services to facilitate the transition.
Eventually, Kohli wasn’t consulted. The star batter taking the mic to tease at suggestions of friction between him and Gambhir; their embrace during the IPL is to be seen as an exhibition that the relationship was being repaired.
“There is enough time for the two to have conversations over the table. But it was important for the BCCI to look at the big picture with many youngsters likely to feature in the coming years,” a BCCI official said. Gambhir abhors star culture and has critiqued about it as a TV pundit. Whether he plans change the culture of the team and how he goes about doing it may be of consequence.
“A secret to Dravid’s success wasn’t strategy. Each coach comes with his own thinking. The ability to gauge how much free hand to provide to which player and little things like allowing optional training sessions or not can make or break a team environment,” said a former India coaching staff.
It could be argued that even during Dravid’s reign, players like Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were meted out strictest punishment. But the replacements never let their absence be felt. That had a lot to do with an aligned vision between Dravid, Rohit and Chief selector Agarkar.
Gambhir and Agarkar have been teammates before. For the two of them, their strategic calls with team captains, traversing across formats may have a huge bearing on Gambhir’s early days as coach.