Ravi Shastri shares cold-blooded verdict on Gautam Gambhir's appointment as India Head Coach

Gautam Gambhir was named the new head coach of the Indian team after Rahul Dravid's tenure ended with the T20 World Cup. Dravid ended on a good note as India won the T20 World Cup after 17 years. The win also ended India's 11-year ICC title drought.

Gambhir now is all set to begin his coaching stint with India's T20I and ODI series. His appointment made an immediate impact as he named Suryakumar Yadav as the next T20I captain of India. Hardik Pandya was primed to succeed Rohit Sharma but his fitness standards made the management think SKY was the best option.

Gambhir had his first net session with the players where he seemed pretty intent. He also had conversations with the young players giving his opinions and insights. Shubman Gill who addressed the pre-match press conference spoke about his learnings from his first interaction with Gambhir.

Ravi Shastri one of India's most successful coaches with two Test series wins in Australia spoke to the ICC Review on Gambhir's appointment as the next India head coach. He said that he is a contemporary and having tasted recent success at the IPL will bring new ideas to the side.

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Gautam Gambhir Will Come With Fresh Ideas: Ravi Shastri

"He's contemporary, he just had a great season in the IPL. I think he's the right age where he's young, he'll come with fresh ideas. He knows most of the players, especially in the white-ball format, having been part of teams in the IPL. So I think it's refreshing,” Shastri said, speaking with host Sanjana Ganesan on the most recent episode of The ICC Review.

"And we know with Gautam, he's a no-nonsense guy. He'll have his ideas as well. And the good thing for him is he's got a mature team. He's got a settled team, a mature team. I think even though you might think you're mature, you might benefit from some fresh ideas. So I think it'll be interesting times" he further added.

Shastri felt that man-management will be one of the key aspects of his coaching. He further said that he believes Gambhir has got what it takes to take this team forward as the coach.

"Obviously, player management becomes the key as a coach. So it'll be interesting to see how he goes. I think he's got the tools, he's got the goods for the job and he's got the experience" Shastri further added.

The Sri Lanka series will be Gautam Gambhir's first assignment as the head coach of India. However, his two most important tournaments coming up with be the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and the WTC 2023-35 final. Making a good core of India's T20I side will be another major challenge for Gambhir after the retirement of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Before departing for the series against Sri Lanka, Gautam Gambhir attended his first press conference as India's head coach and gave an insight into his vision for the long-term in this role. He also spoke about the man-management of key players citing the example of Jasprit Bumrah who has been rested from this series.

Gambhir's recent success with KKR played a key role in the BCCI wanting to go behind him and make him the head coach of the Indian team. He wanted his own support staff as he made Abhishek Nayar the batting coach of the side, Ryan ten Doeschate the fielding coach, and Morne Morkel the bowling coach. Morke is yet to link up with the Indian team. T Dilip was also retained as India's fielding coach.

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