Not LSG or KKR Captaincy!! Gautam Gambhir became BCCI Head Coach due to..

Gautam Gambhir has been appointed as India's new head coach by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday, July 9. Gambhir will replace Rahul Dravid as head coach of the national cricket team. He was picked after his successful tenure as mentor of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL 2024.

The 42-year-old was appointed as the mentor of the Knight Riders before IPL 2024. The Shreyas Iyer-led team defeated the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL 2024 final. Gambhir's strategic moves proved successful for the team. He promoted Sunil Narine as an opener to add depth to the batting lineup.

The Cricket Advisory Committee interviewed two candidates, Gautam Gambhir and WV Raman, for Rahul Dravid's successor as India's head coach. Rahul Dravid's tenure concluded with India after the T20 World Cup 2024. The Men in Blue ended their 11-year ICC trophy drought during the recent T20 tournament.

Gautam Gambhir is new to coaching, unlike Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid. The Delhi-born cricketer served as a mentor in the IPL for KKR and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). He now needs to plan a strategy for transitioning in Tests and ODIs, especially with a core group nearing the end of their careers.

The left handed batter played 58 Tests, 147 ODIs, and 37 T20Is. He scored 10,324 runs with 20 centuries and 63 fifties. He was the leading run-getter in the final matches of the 2007 T20 World Cup (75) and the 2011 ODI World Cup (91). Gambhir scored 6402 runs in 251 T20s and led KKR to IPL titles in 2012 and 2014.

Gautam Gambhir Will Give Enough Backing And Captaincy

According to The Indian Express, Gautam Gambhir gives players freedom and rarely interferes after games or training sessions. Gambhir focuses on backing and building players' confidence, which is crucial at the top level of cricket management.

“Once the game or the training ends, he has seldom interfered in what the player does. He gave the players freedom. Moreover, he is someone who will give players enough backing and confidence. At the top level, it is all about how you manage the players,” is how someone who worked with Gambhir at KKR said, as quoted by The Indian Express.

Gambhir will commence his coaching duties with India during the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka. The Indian team will play three T20Is and as many ODIs from July 27 to August 7. His primary goal is to guide the team to victory in events like the 2025 Champions Trophy and the 2026 T20 World Cup.

The Indian cricket team, led by interim head coach VVS Laxman, is currently in Zimbabwe for a five-match T20I series. They started the series with a defeat in a low-scoring match but bounced back with a win in the second match. They aim to secure victories in upcoming matches to clinch the series.

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