Gautam Gambhir in action© X (Twitter)
Gautam Gambhir is kick off his reign as head coach of the Indian team on Saturday when the Suryakumar Yadav-led side take on Sri Lanka in the first T20I of a three-match series. Gambhir replaced former India captain Rahul Dravid at the helm after his contract expired at the end of last month. Since then, a lot has been said and written about Gambhir's appointment, and what he will bring into the table. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has shared his views on Gambhir's appointment. Shastri passed over the baton to Dravid after the end of the T20 World Cup in 2021.
While the Indian team did not win an ICC trophy during his tenure, the team, under the leadership of Virat Kohli, reached new heights in Test cricket, including back-to-back Test series wins in Australia.
While Gambhir has not had any coaching experience in the IPL, he did work as a mentor with several franchises, and masterminded KKR's title-winning campaign earlier this year.
However, Shastri feels that a young coach like Gambhir will bring a fresh approach into this Indian side.
"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," Shastri said on The ICC Review Show.
Shastri added that while Gambhir is a no-nonsense guy, player management will be key during his tenure.
"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. 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."
"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," added Shastri.
"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."