Then Gautam Gambhir, now VVS Laxman: IND vs ZIM series to be litmus test of selection approach

The United Kingdom (UK) tour ended on a miserable note at Lord’s on July 19. Winning just 1 out of 10 matches wasn’t great, but the bigger worry was India’s selection, utilisation of resources, not backing players, and constant reshuffling of the batting line-up.

Failings of UK tour

Losing matches didn’t come out of nowhere. It was a consequence of injury woes and questionable decisions. There was only one man who was a common factor between losing the T20I series to Ireland and England and the ODI series to England. That was India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir.

Kuldeep Yadav failing to play throughout the tour, benching Sanju Samson and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after 3 failures each, slotting Prince Yadav and Arshdeep Singh directly into the series decided at Lord’s, dropping Ravi Bishnoi after one bad game, and using Washington Sundar out of position in both departments.

There were several critical errors made during the 3-week period. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) continues to back Gambhir amid all of this. That’s fine. But one must take a deeper look into the issues. There seems to be little to no introspection and course correction.

Gambhir won’t be travelling to Harare for the India vs Zimbabwe T20I series. Instead, VVS Laxman, head of the Centre of Excellence (CoE), will step in as the interim India head coach. It’ll be fascinating to see how Laxman operates. Will he follow the template that Team India has been following under Gambhir or implement his own ways?

Gautam Gambhir — Gambhir has lost his last 3 series as India’s head coach | Image Credit: PA Images/ Jacob King via Alamy

What will Laxman do in Gambhir’s absence?

One asks the questions because of what happened against England in particular. Will Laxman back Sooryavanshi in all three matches? Considering Samson has been rested/dropped for the 3-match T20I series, and Prabhsimran Singh has been selected, will he look to give the keeper-batter an opportunity? If he plays, will that be at the expense of the teenager or someone else like Ishan Kishan or Abhishek Sharma?

Will there be constant chopping and changing if India lose one of the first two matches? Bishnoi didn’t even play regularly for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League 2026 but was selected for England and now Zimbabwe. Considering he’s the only wrist spinner, will he be backed?

T20I cricket demands flexibility. But how much moving around is too much? What role will Tilak V arma play? If he’s the designated finisher, what role will Suryansh Shedge or Rinku Singh play? There are several questions to be answered. Depending on what happens, we’ll understand whether Team India will follow Gambhir’s failing methods or bring some consistency under Laxman.

India squad for Zimbabwe T20I series

Shreyas Iyer (c), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma (vc), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Ravi Bishnoi