Gambhir must know captain is boss, and coach facilitator

It’s been a tumultuous six months for Indian cricket. The euphoria triggered by the T20 World Cup triumph towards the end of June 2024 has dissipated, the national team has embarked on an alarming downward spiral that started with a first ODI series loss in Sri Lanka in nearly three decades, spilled over to a 0-3 hammering at the hands of New Zealand in a home Test series and culminated in the surrender of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia after a gap of eight years.

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Between the sensational triumph in Bridgetown and now, only one thing has changed – the coaching staff. Rahul Dravid stepped down after the end of the global title drought alongside batting coach Vikram Rathour and bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, ushering in the era of Gautam Gambhir, him with little to no coaching credentials. The former India opener brought on board Abhishek Nayar, Morne Morkel and Ryan ten Doeschate, all internationals, who haven’t been able to replicate the kind of stunning successes India enjoyed under Ravi Shastri, Anil Kumble and Dravid.

Should Gambhir and rest of support staff be blamed?

To place the entire blame for the unchecked downslide of the last half-year at the altar of the support staff will be both naïve and unmerited. India are a vastly experienced outfit with two players who have been playing internationally for more than a decade and a half. They have the most vibrant and effective talent-spotting system in the world and the massive patronage of the sport translates to a humongous pool to draw from. There is no lack of pedigree or skills within the national set-up. And yet, here we are, brainstorming after a debacle Down Under that has reopened old wounds, trained the spotlight on the senior batting group marshalled by the misfiring duo of skipper Rohit Sharma and his predecessor Virat Kohli, and sparked concerns over the lack of bonding and team unity that were the hallmark of the team not so long back.

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Is a happy team a successful one? Or does success make an outfit happy? There is no definitive answer to either question. Suffice to say that all the evidence available currently points to the reality that right now, the Indian team is neither happy nor successful.

Gambhir is a feisty character. It was as a spunky, determined, hard-as-nails batter that he made his name. Given the prism through which we view ‘talent’, the left-hander wasn’t on the top of that list in anyone’s book. But what he lacked in terms of aesthetics and natural ability, he more than made up for with his combativeness and the burning desire to prove a point. To him, playing cricket wasn’t so much fun as silencing his critics. As a player, that trait might pay off but in a more inclusive environment where he is the boss, the singular goal of thirsting for a fight to stoke the competitive juices might not be the most ideal recipe.

Head coach-senior players relationship

Predictably, there has been much concern within the corridors of power in Indian cricket over the series of poor results that have dogged the team. More than the results, one suspects, it is some other troubling developments that have caught the attention of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Significant among them is the relationship between the head coach and the senior players, specifically, and with most players, in general.

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Communication is the bedrock of any relationship. That, and honesty and transparency, combine to bring a sense of purpose to any group. The messaging must be open, consistent and easy to comprehend, leaving no scope for speculation or ambiguity. One isn’t certain if that’s been the case in recent times. India prided themselves on being a group, on staying together, on enjoying each other’s success, on commiserating with and consoling those going through a rough phase. There was oneness, a feeling of family because that’s what a cricket team essentially is – an extended family. The players spend so much time with each other playing and travelling and sharing dressing rooms that they start to think like one another, almost. But in Australia, they didn’t resemble a unit and that reflected in the results.

Agreed, Rohit’s extraordinarily poor run which coincided with Kohli going off the boil didn’t help, but India have been in similar situations previously and found a way to ‘carry’ the non-performers for brief periods while eking out performances from the others around them. That didn’t happen in Australia, or at home against New Zealand before that. There were sporadic flashes of brilliance with the bat, from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Kumar Reddy notably, but beyond that, batting was a struggle, evidenced by six efforts of less than 200 in nine completed innings.

But to go back to the family part. At a review meeting in Mumbai last weekend that ran for nearly six hours and was attended by the top Board honchos, apart from Rohit, Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar, one of the ideas floated was to restrict the timeframe during which families would be allowed to travel, mainly to foster togetherness and unity. In Australia, not all players travelled in even the same flight, unprecedented in Indian cricket history. There was a feeling in certain quarters that there were different strokes for different folks, and once that thought takes shape in even one or two minds, it can quickly percolate through the ranks, leading to uncertainty and a certain siege mentality, especially among those who went through the entire tour without getting a meaningful game, such as Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sarfaraz Khan, for instance.

Gambhir's success as IPL mentor

An insistence on going beyond paying lip service to domestic cricket will see several who played in Australia turning out next week for their respective states in the Ranji Trophy, though what purpose that will serve beyond optics, given that India’s next assignment is the limited-overs Champions Trophy tournament, is open to debate. Quick fixes aren’t the need of the hour. Holistic attitudinal changes and the imperativeness of ensuring that the senior leadership group share the same page are non-negotiable, and that’s where all efforts must be concentrated.

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Gambhir was excellent as a mentor at Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL, but his man-managerial skills at a higher level have been called into question. Shastri and Dravid played second fiddle, by choice, to Kohli and Rohit respectively, and despite opinions to the contrary, Kumble was largely in the background during his successful if troubled one-year stint when Kohli was the captain. Gambhir needs to understand that in international cricket, the captain is the boss, the coach a facilitator unless it is the 20-over game where those in the dugout have at least as important a role to play as the leader on the park.

Also read: Only thing that keeps you in the dressing room is performance: Gambhir

The Indian cricket team is at a crossroads, but it is nowhere near the point of no return. Adjustments and adaptability, which captains and coaches harp on, have to be the mantra going forward, starting with the Champions Trophy next month. Nothing quite works like success, and one good outing will spark a spectacular turnaround. Of course, it would help if the two best batters in the team pull their bats out of ice. Immediately.