"Indian players will be shaken up with Gautam Gambhir" Ex-Sri Lankan player's gobsmacking take

Former Sri Lankan cricketer Russel Arnold recently opened up about former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir’s appointment as head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team. Russel Arnold stated that Indian cricketers might require some adjustment to perform under Gautam Gambhir’s coaching style.

Gautam Gambhir has taken over as the head coach of the Indian men's cricket team across three formats. The former left-handed batter's tenure will begin with the white-ball series against Sri Lanka. The Men in Blue will play a three-match T20I series followed by as many ODIs during the Sri Lanka tour.

Rahul Dravid served as the Indian cricket team's coach from November 2021 until the end of the 2024 T20 World Cup. Dravid ended his tenure on a high note with a victory over South Africa in the final match. The Indian team finishes as runners-up in the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup 2023.

Gautam Gambhir Has Shown That He Can Do - Russel Arnold

Speaking to News 18, Russel Arnold said that Gautam Gambhir can manage players and guide the Indian cricket team to success. Arnold added that Gambhir will push players to continually improve and maintain high-performance standards.

"So sometimes players, when we play, we are able to go out there and perform, but then it becomes a challenge to get a message across, and get others to perform, which Gautam Gambhir has shown that he can do. We definitely know it’s going to be a different style," Arnold told the website.

"There’ll be a bit of adjustment for people to come to terms with Gautam Gambhir, but I think the change is also good because then you become too familiar with one system and hence they’ll be shaken up, maybe even woken up that you still need to get better and you still need to perform a lot more," he concluded.

Gambhir lacks head coaching experience in competitive cricket. However, the 42-year-old has a strong record as a mentor in the IPL. He recently helped the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) secure their third title as a mentor. He also mentored the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in reaching the playoffs in two seasons.

Our Bond Has Always Been Special - Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav takes over as T20I captain from Rohit Sharma. Gambhir and Suryakumar previously played together at Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Speaking at a pre-match press conference, Suryakumar said that they continued to discuss the game despite moving to different IPL teams in 2018.

"Our bond has always been special. From 2014 till now, it has been exactly 10 years. In 2018, I joined another [IPL] franchise and he joined another franchise. But we used to talk regularly about the game. When he used to play with another team, I used to play with him. We used to discuss the game to see if we could do better in that match,” Suryakumar said.

The first T20I of the three-match series will be played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, July 27. The next two matches will also be played at the same venue on July 28 and July 30. Following the T20Is, India will face Sri Lanka in three ODIs from August 2 to August 7.

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