‘Even Dravid found it challenging’: Gambhir fired ‘this isn’t franchise cricket’ warning ahead of Rohit, Kohli meet-up
India vs Sri Lanka: Gautam Gambhir is set to unite with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma for the Sri Lanka ODI series which begins next month
Gautam Gambhir made an impressive start to his tenure as the head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team on Sunday after the Suryakumar Yadav-led side cruised to a comfortable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka in Pallekele. India are yet to play the final match, scheduled to take place on Tuesday at the same venue, before the caravan moves to Colombo for the ODI series, which will happen between August 3 and 7.
The T20I series was Gambhir’s first-ever assignment as a coach of any cricket side. He previously worked with two franchises of the Indian Premier League (IPL) – Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders – as mentors. But Gambhir, having had a successful career across formats, is well aware of the demands of international cricket and a high-pressure environment. The T20I series may not have posed a challenge for the former India World Cup winner, but the ODI series will, with the likes of captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul set to return.
‘Indian team is not like franchise cricket’
A source privy to the Indian dressing room and its work for years told ESPN that Gambhir’s biggest challenge will be to manage the “superstars” in the team and warned that the function of the team is very different from franchise cricket.
“It is not an easy task. It is not like a franchise model, where you are the boss and you can dictate terms. That won’t work here. In the India dressing room you will have to pick up the phone, speak to players, and Dravid was really good at doing that. Even Dravid, when he joined, would have found it a challenge with the landscape of cricket having changed since he retired: everyone is a multimillionaire and is a captain of his respective franchise. So that’s Gambhir’s biggest challenge – dealing with players,” the source said.
It seems Gambhir already heard him, as the report revealed details of the selection process for the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka. BCCI’s chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, included Gambhir in the selection meeting, with India eyeing not only the Champions Trophy next year but also the 2026 T20 World Cup. But the latter did not force his notions on the committee but allowed the selectors to dictate the process. His only involvement was conversing with Hardik Pandya on his role in the Indian set-up from there on and that he should be available for every game India plays.
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