Gautam Gambhir has received an incredible amount of flak during his tenure as a head coach of the Indian cricket team. Perhaps the most any coach has ever experienced. Yes, some of his tactics may not fall into place for everyone but there’s no denying that India have been a juggernaut in white-ball cricket under him.
After taking the team to ICC Champions Trophy win and an Asia Cup 2025 triumph, Gambhir has achieved something incredible. He has led India to become the first team to win a T20 World Cup at home. He has joined the upper echelons of World Cup-winning coaches. However, the first thing he mentioned after winning the title is thanking his predecessor Rahul Dravid.
Gambhir thanks Dravid, Laxman for helping Indian cricket
Gambhir took over as India’s head coach in July 2024. He replaced Rahul Dravid for the role, whose tenure completed after a successful T20 World Cup win. In fact, it was under Dravid that India ended their drought of not winning a World Cup in 13 years. After a bad T20 World Cup 2022, Dravid and former Indian captain Rohit Sharma made a conscious effort to make India a ruthless side in the shortest format.
“I think first of all I should dedicate this trophy to Rahul [Dravid] bhai, and then to VVS Laxman [bhai],” Gambhir said. “Because what Rahul bhai has done to keep Indian cricket in such a good shape during his tenure, I have to thank him for everything.”
Gambhir just took that ruthlessness a notch further. Further than it has ever been. Then, Gambhir thanked VVS Laxman as well, who is the head of cricket at Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. Laxman oversees the India A and Under-19 teams while also working with senior players who stop at the CoE for trainings and rehabilitation after injuries.
And then VVS Laxman for unconditionally doing so much for Indian cricket behind the doors, because the CoE remains the pipeline for Indian cricket. And third is obviously Ajit Agarkar, because he does take a lot of flak, but the amount of honesty he has worked with.”
Special shoutout to Jay Shah
Not just this, Gambhir concluded with thanking ICC chair and former BCCI Secretary Jay Shah as well. Gambhir revealed that he was the only person who called him after the horrible lows of Test series losses to New Zealand and South Africa at home.
While Gambhir may end up being the most successful white-ball coach ever, there’s a long way to go for India in Tests. Under him, India lost their home dominance, losing to New Zealand and South Africa in Test series at home. India gave away the BGT to Australia too. In total, India have won just 7 out of 19 Tests, with a W/L ratio of 0.7 (worse than PAK and SL).
“And last but not least, I have to thank Jay [Shah] bhai, because not many people have actually called me when I went through the lowest moments in my tenure, whether it was after New Zealand, whether it was after South Africa, the only person who called me actually was Jay bhai.
“And I have to thank him for trusting me with this job, because I very well remember this, that when I was given this job, I had no experience of being the head coach of any franchise or any team, but trusting me with this job, so I have to thank these guys. And I think till these guys are there, I think Indian cricket is in very, very safe hands.”
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