Team India‘s Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma referred to head coach Gautam Gambhir as a ‘khadoos’ cricketer, noting his ability to deliver impressive performances in challenging situations. The term ‘khadoos’ is commonly linked to Mumbai cricketers, known for their strong will.
Gambhir succeeded Rahul Dravid for the role of head coach for Team India. Dravid’s term came to a close after the Men in Blue’s successful title defense at the 2024 T20 World Cup. Under Gambhir’s charges, India triumphed in the T20I series in Sri Lanka 3-0, although suffered a 2-0 loss in the ODIs. Currently, Team India is leading 1-0 in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh at home.
Recently, explaining his sentiments towards the in-form opener and the former captain of white-ball formats, Rohit was quoted by NDTV saying:
Gambhir succeeded Rahul Dravid for the role of head coach for Team India. Dravid’s term came to a close after the Men in Blue’s successful title defense at the 2024 T20 World Cup. Under Gambhir’s charges, India triumphed in the T20I series in Sri Lanka 3-0, although suffered a 2-0 loss in the ODIs. Currently, Team India is leading 1-0 in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh at home.
“We have seen a chance in coaching. Earlier, Rahul bhai was there. Now, Gautam Gambhir is our coach. He was a khadoos (stubborn) kind of a player. He played some great innings in tough matches.”
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Ravindra Jadeja & Yashasvi Jaiswal together having fun in dressing room. ⭐❤️ pic.twitter.com/1gzJC2PbiB
— Tanuj Singh (@ImTanujSingh) September 28, 2024
His impressive 75-run innings helped India beat Pakistan in the 2007 T20 World Cup final held in Johannesburg. He was also the leading run-getter for India in the 2011 ODI World Cup final match against Sri Lanka at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The left-handed batsman went on to score a resolute 97 from 122 deliveries in the match even after Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar had been dismissed cheaply.
When it comes to Test matches, he batted for over 10 hours for his score of 137 not out which came off 436 balls as he helped India level the Test match against New Zealand in napier in 2009 where they were made to bat again after follow on. VVS Laxman also contributed an unbeaten 124 off 212 balls in the same innings.
“Let’s see how Gambhir reacts if India has a poor performance”- Tamim Iqbal about Gambhir’s character as a coach
Gambhir has built a reputation of being a hard nut to crack; however, according to Bangladesh cricketer Tamim Iqbal, he has not sufficiently proven himself in the capacity of a coach. Tamim said that one should wait and see how he behaves under pressure when India has an off day.
“When you’re winning, you don’t know the real character of the man. It’s only when you lose a series, then you lose another, that the real character comes out. No doubt, he is a capable man, but it’s too early. Let India have a bad game, then we will see what comes out,” Tamim was quoted as telling JioCinema.
During his playing days, Gambhir played 58 test matches, 147 One day internationals and 37 T20 matches finishing with a total of 10324 runs with 20 hundreds and 63 fifties.
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