Rohit Sharma delivers only 'worked for franchises' verdict on Gautam Gambhir's appointment as India head coach

India's Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma has finally opened up on working with Gautam Gambhir in Team India. Gambhir was appointed India's new head coach last month after Rahul Dravid's tenure ended following India's T20 World Cup 2024 win.

Gambhir's tenure as India's head coach started on a positive note with India's away series against Sri Lanka, which the Men in Blue won 3-0. The series was also Suryakumar Yadav's first assignment as India's full-time T20I captain.

Gambhir's next assignment will be the ODI series against the same opposition. Skipper Rohit Sharma and star batter Virat Kohli are making a comeback in this series. Both were last seen in India colors in the T20 World Cup 2024 final against South Africa.

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Rohit Sharma opens up on Gautam Gambhir as India's new head coach

On the eve of the first ODI, Rohit Sharma broke the silence on working with Gautam Gambhir. The Indian captain claimed that Gambhir has a lot of experience of working with various franchises. He also mentioned that every new coaching staff brings on something different and he expects the new coaching staff to do the same.

"Gautam Gambhir has played a lot of cricket. He worked for franchises before coming to the Indian team. We played a bit of cricket together. Every new coaching set-up brings on something different," Rohit Sharma was quoted as saying by Revsportz Global on X (formerly Twitter).

Gautam Gambhir has played a lot of cricket. He worked for franchises before coming to the Indian team. We played a bit of cricket together. Every new coaching set-up brings on something different: Rohit. #SLvsIND

— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) August 1, 2024

Gautam Gambhir's record as a mentor

Before joining the role of India's head coach, Gautam Gambhir was the Kolkata Knight Riders' mentor for the IPL 2024 season. Under his leadership, KKR transformed into a formidable team as they clinched the IPL 2024 title. This was KKR's third IPL title. Their first two titles came under Gambhir's captaincy.

Before joining KKR, Gautam Gambhir was the mentor of Lucknow Super Giants for their first two IPL seasons in 2022 and 2023. LSG performed well in both seasons and made it to the playoffs on both occasions.

Gautam Gambhir is also the youngest head coach of the Indian cricket team. He is just 42 right now and has played with several current players before. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja are some of those players.

While the relationship between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli does not have a great past. but Gambhir shares a good camaraderie with Rohit Sharma. Gambhir was one of the first cricketers who liked Rohit Sharma taking early risks in white-ball cricket in order to provide India with flying starts.

Both Gambhir and Rohit will have the responsibility to prepare a team for the upcoming ICC tournaments, especially the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and World Test Championship (WTC) final 2025.