Gautam Gambhir’s tenure as the head coach of the Indian cricket team has been exceptional. 9 months in, the former opener had an ICC title, the 2025 Champions Trophy, under his belt. 6 months later, he won another multi-nation event, the 2025 Asia Cup. He didn’t get the trophy, but the victory was his.
Now, another 6 months later, Gambhir has another ICC trophy, the 2026 T20 World Cup, to his name. It has been nothing short of remarkable. His prowess as a white-ball coach, combined with Team India’s ascendancy, has been a match made in heaven.
Gambhir untested in white-ball cricket?
But has it all been luck? You see, in some ways, Gambhir has been lucky. In his tenure, there haven’t been any tournaments away from Asia. The conditions where spinners can’t come into the game. That’s why former India captain Sourav Ganguly believes as well.
Taking nothing away from him, Ganguly stated that conditions in the ODI World Cup 2027 will be the biggest test yet for Gambhir in white-ball cricket. India heavily relied on spinners in the Asia Cup and on flatter decks in the T20 World Cup. But that won’t likely be the case in South Africa.
“Gautam is a very good coach. If you remember, I said ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy that you need to give the man some time. As a white-ball coach, he is very good, especially in these conditions. He has a very good team and is a very good coach. His real test in white ball is going to be in South Africa in 2027. Conditions there will test him, but I am confident he will get it right with the team he has,” Ganguly told MoneyControl.
Questionable as Test coach
The former BCCI secretary also pointed out that Gambhir still has some work to do in the longest format. Under him, India have won just 7 of the 19 Test matches they’ve played. These include 2 whitewashes at home, New Zealand in 2024 and South Africa in 2025. Ganguly wants him to forget about the pitch and focus on picking quality players instead.
“In red ball, he needs to get better. And the way to do it is to think less about the wicket. He needs to get the wicket out of his system. Take the England series. He couldn’t do anything about the wicket, and you can see the results. He doesn’t need to play on turners at home. Good wickets will produce good results,” Ganguly added.
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