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Former India National Cricket Team batter S Badrinath has questioned Gautam Gambhir's commitment to Team India after the head coach and his support staff decided not to travel with the squad for the upcoming Zimbabwe T20I series and the Asian Games.
S Badrinath argued that the coaching staff had already received sufficient rest during the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 and should have been available for all India's international assignments.
Gautam Gambhir all set to skip Zimbabwe tour and Asian Games
India, after their poor display in the England T20I series, in which they lost 4-0 in the series, the T20I side will be touring Zimbabwe for a three-match T20I series against the Chevrons and then the Asian Games.
The teams for both have been announced, and the tour to Zimbabwe is scheduled from 23 June to 26 June. The Asian Games 2026 will be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, and the cricket event will take place for two weeks in September, with the schedule not yet confirmed.
Gautam Gambhir and his support staff will not be available for these events; the current Head of Cricket at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE), VVS Laxman, will oversee these two tours for the Men in Blue as he has been appointed head coach for the upcoming assignments.
Apart from VVS Laxman, Sunil Joshi and Hrishikesh Kanitkar will be the bowling and batting coaches, respectively.
S Badrinath criticizes Gautam Gambhir for skipping Zimbabwe tour, Asian Games
While speaking on the YouTube channel, S Badrinath has questioned Gambhir and his coaching team for taking off after getting a rest during the IPL 2026.
Badrinath said, "Even Gautam Gambhir and his support staff are being rested for the Zimbabwe series with VVS Laxman taking charge. I don't understand this, considering they just rested for two months during the IPL. They were at work only for the Ireland and England series."
S Badrinath criticises India's selection strategy for Sanju Samson, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
S Badrinath also questioned Gautam Gambhir’s poor selection strategy for firstly dropping Sanju Samson for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and then recalling him after the 15-year-old was unable to score well in just three matches.
The former CSK star claims that due to this move by the Gautam Gambhir-led support staff a lot of insecurity must have crept inside the Indian dressing room.
"They dropped Samson after three failures and got Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in. Then Sooryavanshi gets the same treatment and you bring Samson back. By doing this, you've given neither Sanju nor Sooryavanshi full confidence. No one knows if Samson or Sooryavanshi is the certainty in the team. Lot of insecurity is created this way and its hard for players to perform in this environment," said Badrinath
"Sooryavanshi was almost in tears after being dropped for the final T20I. It was hard to look at his face. Some selections are baffling from the management. Samson is there for the Asian Games. So why is he not there just for the Zimbabwe series? It's clear the Indian team struggles without these two. This T20 team looks totally different without them."
