Gautam Gambhir to travel with India A ahead of ENG vs IND 2025 Test series: Reports
Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir is all set to travel with the India A team ahead of the Test series against England, as per a report by Times of India. India will tour England for a five-Test series, beginning on June 20.
With the 2025 Champions Trophy just concluded and the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 approaching, the national team will not have any assignments in the next two months. Therefore, head coach Gautam Gambhir, looking to prepare for the Test series, will travel with India A.
The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) do not have a designated coach for the A side. That said, it remains to be seen whether Gautam Gambhir travels as an observer or BCCI's Head Cricket VVS Laxman takes the role.
With Rahul Dravid previously taking up the role of the head coach for the senior team, BCCI picked coaches on rotation from the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for India A and U-19 teams.
This will be the first instance where a senior team coach will join the India A team for a tour. The report added that Gambhir wants to travel with the India A side to have an idea of the reserve pool of players. The head coach is working on setting a roadmap for future events such as the 2027 ODI World Cup, World Test Championship, and the 2026 T20 World Cup.
"Gambhir has been in discussions with the BCCI since he returned from Australia. He has expressed his desire to travel with the India 'A' team to get a clearer view of the reserve pool. With India winning the Champions Trophy after Gambhir's insistence for certain wild card players, one may expect him to assert more in future," a BCCI source was quoted as saying.
Gautam Gambhir advocates for more India A tours
Since Rahul Dravid left the NCA, there has been a decline in the number of India A tours. Most such tours have been shadow tours ahead of the main series. Gautam Gambhir believes there need to be more India A tours.
"One of the crucial issues identified is reviving India 'A' tours. There have been only a handful 'A' series after Dravid left NCA and all of those were shadow tours for a marquee series. Gambhir too believes that there needs to be more 'A' tours. That's why he wants to take stock of the situation firsthand," the source said in the same interview (via TOI).
India won the 2025 Champions Trophy under Gautam Gambhir as they beat New Zealand by four wickets in the final on March 9. It will be interesting to see how he goes about his business ahead of the England tour, given there has been criticism and pressure on the Test team after consecutive series defeats against New Zealand and Australia.