"He's the right age where he's young, he'll come with fresh ideas" - Ravi Shastri backs Gautam Gambhir to flourish as Team India head coach
Former Indian all-rounder and coach Ravi Shastri has backed the newly-appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir to flourish, thanks to his taking over at the right age. Gambhir was named the Indian coach after Rahul Dravid's tenure ended with India's 2024 T20 World Cup win in the West Indies and the USA on June 29.
Gambhir's first assignment as Team India head coach will be the white-ball tour to Sri Lanka, where they will play three T20Is and as many ODIs.
Speaking to the ICC Review, Shastri felt knowing most of the players in the current Indian setup would help Gambhir produce outstanding results as head coach.
"He's contemporary, he just had a great season in the IPL. I think he's the right age where he's young, he'll come with fresh ideas. He knows most of the players, especially in the white-ball format, having been part of teams in the IPL. So I think it's refreshing. And we know with Gautam, he's a no-nonsense guy. He'll have his ideas as well. And the good thing for him is he's got a mature team. He's got a settled team, a mature team," Shastri said.
He added:
"I think even though you might think you're mature, you might benefit from some fresh ideas. So I think it'll be interesting times. Obviously, player management becomes the key as a coach. So it'll be interesting to see how he goes. I think he's got the tools, he's got the goods for the job and he's got the experience."
Shastri was the Indian coach from 2017 to 2021 after being team director from 2014 to 2016. Despite incredible success across formats, India failed to win at the ICC events under him.
"It's a question of just understanding his players as quickly as possible" - Ravi Shastri on Gautam Gambhir
Ravi Shastri said Gambhir's most important task would be understanding each player as quickly as possible in his new role.
The former opener recently helped the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) win the IPL 2024 title as Team Mentor. He also captained the franchise to their first two title runs in 2012 and 2014.
"It's a question of just understanding his players as quickly as possible. What their strengths are, what kind of human beings they are and what kind of temperaments do they have? What are their personalities? A lot goes behind the scenes to understand a human being. I think that will be his most important task, which I think again should not be a problem because he's contemporary," Shastri said in the same interview.
He concluded by saying:
"He's seen these guys from the outside, he's dealt with a lot of guys who might have played with KKR as well and for Lucknow (Super Giants) when he was there. And he's been around the circuit, the moment he finished cricket and that was not too long ago, he still is around, plays a lot of the legends cricket as well."
India's tour of Sri Lanka starts with the first of three T20Is at Pallekele on Saturday, July 27.