Gautam Gambhir has finally addressed the calls for his sacking as Team India’s head coach. The Men in Blue coach saw another humiliating Test series loss, this time by the hands of South Africa, who outclassed India on all fronts. Under Gambhir’s coaching, India have now lost five of their last seven Test matches at home, recording a new low for India.
When asked upon his future as India’s coach, especially in Tests after the Guwahati Test, Gambhir said that it is all up to the BCCI. However, he was quick to remind that India have won the ICC Champions Trophy and the Asia Cup 2025 under his coaching. Also, India delivered a great account of themselves in a 5-match Test series against England earlier this year.
‘It is up to BCCI,’ says Gambhir
While Gambhir has seen success as a coach in white-ball cricket, his red-ball tenure has been awful, to say the least. Constant chopping and changing, over-reliance on all-rounders, and no planning for specialists have all been questions that are posed on Gambhir’s methods. Since his arrival, India have made 36 personnel changes, which is the most by any Test side. He has also become the first Indian coach to endure two Test series whitewashes at home. Due to all this, he was daringly asked the question about his future as the coach. To which, Gambhir replied:
“It is for the BCCI to decide. This is something that I said in my first-ever press conference when I became the head coach as well. Indian cricket is important; I am not important. I am the same guy who got results in England and won the Champions Trophy and Asia Cup. This is a team which is learning,” said Gambhir while speaking to reporters after South Africa handed India its largest Test defeat ever in Guwahati.
Gautam Gambhir record as Test coach
Under Gautam Gambhir, India have managed to win just 7 out of 19 Tests. Out of those seven wins, two were against Bangladesh and two came when the West Indies arrived in India. Also, Gambhir became the first Indian coach to lose the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) since 2015, while some argue that India could’ve also win the Test series in England had India played it’s cards right and included Kuldeep Yadav or Arshdeep Singh for once. Not to forget the watershed moment came when New Zealand ended India’s legendary 12-year span of not losing Test series at home.
| Matches | Won | Lost | Draw | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 36.84 |
India’s W/L ratio under Gambhir has been 0.700. Only Bangladesh (0.571) and Zimbabwe (0.250) have worse W/L ratio than India among teams who have played at least 10 Tests since September 2024.
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