Gautam Gambhir‘s appointment as India’s head coach in July this year is a new chapter in Indian cricket after Rahul Dravid’s exit following a successful stint that included a T20 World Cup win. Chandimal has been explicit about his admiration for someone like Gambhir who has been known to be straightforward and undiplomatic, unlike Rahul Dravid whose style was calm and diplomatic.
Regarding cricketing passion, Ravichandran Ashwin has elaborated on Gautam Gambhir’s leadership while mentioning that the prevalent change in mood reflects transcendence into another individual with different archetype traits to those of Dravid. This was made clearer when within T20I format Gautham Gambhir started off well as India swept Sri Lanka under Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy.
These victories didn’t last for long because they were followed by a 0-2 loss against Sri Lanka in one-day internationals where both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli made returns after being absent from all matches during the period.
Though this is just the beginning; what will happen to their relationship? Those two are preparing for a frantic schedule in 2024/25. Also, it would be interesting to see how the future chemistry between Rohit and Gambhir develops during a busy cricket season. India will play two Tests against Bangladesh later this month, which is also when the cycle of India’s World Test Championship resumes after returning to action.
Ravichandran Ashwin, among India’s oldest active players, shared his opinions about Rohit and Gambhir’s leadership styles during an open discussion with journalist Vimal Kumar before the Bangladesh series. According to Ashwin, both understand cricket well, but their motivating methods are completely different.
“Gauti bhai is very intense. There are similarities between Rohit and Gauti bhai’s leadership, but Rohit keeps it light. Gauti bhai is an intense person,” Ashwin said.
The off-spinner, however, stressed that these differences need to be recognized.
“He (Gambhir) is very passionate about Indian cricket, just like Rahul (Dravid) bhai. Both are very passionate about Indian cricket, but we believe both are different.”
”Yes, they have different personalities. But people are like, ‘MS Dhoni was cool, so everyone should be cool’. It isn’t like that. Everyone has their own methods, and we should encourage that,” said Ashwin further.
Ashwin is set to make a comeback
The last time we saw the Indian off-spinner was in Tamil Nadu Premier League and stepped down from international cricket since March this year when India played its last Test series. Therefore, Ashwin will be one of the first members in the team when India resumes Test matches against Bangladesh.
There are 10 Tests for India left in the ongoing WTC cycle that is going to decide if they remain on top of their group and qualify for the third final; hence retaining their position.
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