Ravi Shastri On Gambhir Being Indian Coach: Former India head coach Ravi Shastri feels Gautam Gambhir’s appointment as the new India head coach is “refreshing” for the dressing room given Gambhir’s young age in the role, and that he’s worked with some of the Indian players already during his career as a player and then mentor.
Gautam Gambhir has taken charge of the Indian team with the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, that kick starts on July 27 with the T20I series and will be followed by an ODI series. India will then host Bangladesh and New Zealand for Test series before touring Australia for a five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Shastri reckons Gambhir will bring in new ideas about the modern-day game in the Indian dressing room.
Gambhir is a two-time IPL winning KKR captain. In the past three IPL seasons, he mentored Lucknow Super Giants to playoff finishes in two seasons and propelled Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title.
Ravi Shastri On Gambhir Being Indian Coach
Speaking with the ICC, Shastri backed Gambhir, saying “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. 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.”
Ravi Shastri explains what will be Gautam Gambhir’s most important task as head coach
Shastri opined that understanding the players would be the most important challenge for Gambhir in his new role. India have a mix of young and experienced players, who all come with their own temperament and baggage.
“It’s a question of just understanding his players as quickly as possible,” Shastri added. “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. 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.”
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