India’s all-format head coach Gautam Gambhir has been under tremendous pressure since last year or so, courtesy of India’s consistent losses at home in the Test and ODI formats of the game.
Gautam Gambhir: The Performance
Since taking over as the head coach of the Indian team after the T20 World Cup triumph, the Men in Blue have lost an ODI series against Sri Lanka, two Test series and one ODI series at home, and also failed to make it to the final of the last edition of the World Test Championship under Gautam Gambhir.
Gautam Gambhir: The Reaction
As is the case in a cricket crazy nation like India, the performance, or the lack of it, has led to a strong reaction from former cricketers like Manoj Tiwary, who went on to say that Gautam Gambhir should be sacked if India fails to win the T20 World Cup.
In an Interview with InsideSport, Tiwary said, “If Gautam Gambhir fails to win the T20 World Cup 2026, then BCCI should take a big and difficult decision. BCCI secretary has said that we will pursue with Gambhir till his contract expires. But if the T20 World Cup 2026 doesn’t give a result to Gambhir, I think BCCI will take a big call and will remove him.”
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Gautam Gambhir: The Support
Amidst the criticism, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said that there is no plan to replace Gautam Gambhir while taking a cheeky dig at people suggesting such things.
While talking to Sportstar, Saikia said, “India is a country of 140 crore people, and everybody is a cricket expert. Everybody will have an opinion. It is a democratic country, and we cannot gag anybody. All the opinion makers are free to give their opinions, including the media. There is a lot of speculated news in the domain, and also various ex-cricketers, cricketers, or other people are also giving opinions. In social media, it is full of them.”
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Gautam Gambhir: What They Said
“But the thing is that we have a cricket committee in the BCCI, who are ex-cricketers. They are dedicated and make all the decisions. On the other hand, for team selection, we have five selectors. They also have to qualify to get into that position. They are the people who take that also. For every decision, there can be a counter-opinion.”
“So, those opinions we have to address, and we have to consider. But the final decision is always taken by the cricket committee as well as the selectors.”