Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma to be dropped, no external interference: BCCI accepts Gautam Gambhir's 5 conditions
Published - 23 Jun 2024, 07:15 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:14 AM
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir looks set to replace Rahul Dravid as the new head coach of Team India. Dravid's tenure will come to an end after the conclusion of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024.
Earlier this week, Gautam Gambhir attended the interview for the post and interacted with BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC). He was not the only candidate to be interviewed by the CAC. Former India cricketer WV Raman attended the interview as well.
As per reports, both the candidates managed to impress the CAC with their presentation but Gautam Gambhir is still the favourite to take charge of the team. The BCCI is likely to announce the former India opener as the new coach in the coming days.
Gautam Gambhir's conditions for accepting India's coach role:
According to reports, Gautam Gambhir laid down a number of conditions before accepting the role of India's head coach and the BCCI has accepted all of them. The Navbharat Times has reported that the former India opener laid down as many as five conditions to become the new head coach.
The first condition was that he wanted full control of the team with no interference from outside. The World Cup winner has also said that he should have the freedom to select his own support staff. The third condition was that the Champions Trophy 2025 should be the last opportunity for the senior players.
The report stated that Gambhir referred to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma specifically as the senior players who should make way if the team fails to go all the way in the tournament next year. For the fourth condition, Gambhir wanted a completely separate Test team while his last condition was to prepare the roadmap for the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Here are the five conditions laid down by Gautam Gambhir:
- Full control of the team, no external interference
- Freedom to choose the support staff
- Champions Trophy to be the last chance for senior players
- Separate Test team
- Prepare the roadmap for the 2027 World Cup
The report also stated that Kohli and Rohit are not the only senior players who could face the axe if Gambhir becomes the head coach. Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami could be dropped from the team as well.
