Gautam Gambhir may have his critics but his former India teammate Irfan Pathan is backing him. Gambhir’s tenure as India’s head coach has been iffy with many pointing out his mistakes series after series. Speaking to RevSportz, the former India all-rounder dismissed the criticism surrounding Gambhir and urged for perspective, especially given India’s transition phase and their dominant run in T20 cricket.
Pathan’s remarks come days after former India batter Manoj Tiwary suggested that Gambhir should be sacked if India fail to defend their T20 World Cup title in 2026. While Gambhir has faced heat for India’s poor returns in Tests and mixed results in ODIs, Pathan believes that fans are missing out on context.
‘You can’t judge Gambhir without context’
Pathan is clear that the shortest format is Gambhir’s forte, his real true strength. “T20 is his forte and he always is a forward thinker. T20 is a fast-format game and with something this fast, you need the leader of the game, be it the captain, coach or a senior player, to be ahead of the game and I guess that’s what is or has been working for Gautam in KKR as a coach, captain and even in the Indian team.”
As an Indian head coach, Gambhir hasn’t lost a single T20I assignment. He has won the Asia Cup 2025, while defeating the likes of Australia, South Africa, England and New Zealand in bilaterals. In fact, the ultra-aggressive approach has seen its success under him. India’s batting run rate under him is 9.75, which is the best under any coach in history.
Gambhir’s record as India head coach in T20Is
| Mat | Won | Lost | NR | W/L | Ave | RPO | HS | LS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 32 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 30.81 | 9.75 | 297 | 102 |
Pathan, who has won the T20 World Cup 2007 with Gambhir, also pointed to the churn Indian cricket is currently undergoing, particularly in the longer formats. The retirements of Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, coupled with Jasprit Bumrah’s reduced red-ball workload and youngsters developing, have left gaps that are not easy to fill overnight.
“Criticism will be there, but we shouldn’t forget his Champions Trophy success as well. We should consider the fact that the Indian Test team has lost four or five important positions in the form of Ravichandran Ashwin, Bumrah who isn’t a regular these days, Ravindra Jadeja, who is focusing more on batting now, and a few more. It is not easy to get replacements for all those important spots so quickly and this phase must be considered. The right noises are being heard, where Shubman Gill has stated the importance of having proper preparatory camps prior to tournaments.”
Gautam Gambhir’s coaching record in Tests
Gambhir’s record as a Test coach has been underwhelming, with India suffering a clean sweep in their home series against New Zealand. Lost 3 matches in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Luckily, the series against England ended 2-2 and then India beat the West Indies at home. But then another embarrassment came when they lost 0-2 vs South Africa at home.
| Matches | Won | Lost | Draw | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 36.84 |
Pathan concluded his take on Gambhir by stating that there aren’t many great thinkers of the game in terms of strategies better than the current Indian head coach.
“Talking about Gautam Gambhir, I don’t think there are many greater minds like him as far as correct strategy is concerned.”
