Gautam Gambhir’s dream team after becoming the head coach

India’s head coach Rahul Dravid’s tenure as the coach of the Indian men’s cricket team is set to end after the T20 World Cup 2024. Team India has already qualified for the Super 8s of the campaign and remained unbeaten in the group stage matches and in the two matches of Super 8 played to date against Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

According to some reports Gautam Gambhir is set to be officially announced as the head coach. It is also stated that he will be signing a contract with BCCI until the end of the 2027 ODI World Cup, and will be picking his own support staff members.

GAMBHIR’S DREAM TEAM

It is all set that Gambhir will only be the head coach after Rahul Dravid and for that, his interview has also been done. Now the thing is that if GG becomes the head coach, he will be deciding with whom he wants to work in the team whether it is batting, bowling, or fielding coach or he wants to select his own team for all the three different formats.

GG’s 5 CONDITIONS AFTER BECOMING THE HEAD COACH

1. Gambhir demanded that he will be having full control over the cricketing operations of the team, without any interference from the board.

2.  Secondly, he will be picking his own support staff, including batting, bowling and fielding coaches.

3.  Thirdly, the most important one, senior players will have the last opportunity in the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan - Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammad Shami. If these players failed to help India win the tournament, then would be dropped from the team. However, nothing is sure that they will be dropped from all three formats.

4. There will be a separate team in Test Cricket.

5. In the last, he will prepare a roadmap for the 2027 ODI World Cup from the get-to-go.

ABHISHEK NAYAR – THE NEXT BATTING COACH OF TEAM INDIA

Abhishek Nayar, the former Indian cricketer known for his aggressive batting can emerge as the new batting coach for Team India. The BCCI will be looking for India’s new batting coach and with that he can be one of the candidates for that post. Despite his short international career, he was known for his successful batting coach. His performance as the coach of Kolkata Knight Riders and the recent success of the team shows his ability to nurture the team including the young talents.

Nayar has been impressive in coaching the IPL team KKR but the international duty will come with different sets of challenges and responsibilities.

A DECISION FOR THE FUTURE

The ending hand is with the BCCI appointing Nayar as the batting coach. If they are willing to start with a fresh perspective then Nayar could prove to be the best choice for a new era in Indian batting. But if the board wants to go with the conventional approach, then it would be best to go with the coach with experience competing internationally.

Gambhir shares a good bond with Abhishek as they both were together in the Kolkata Knight Riders sharing the spot, Gambhir was a mentor and Abhishek was the assistant coach. They both shared a working environment and had a good level of understanding with each other. This could be one of the reasons why Gambhir would select him as the batting coach of the team. he was with him in the winning team of IPL Kolkata Knight Riders.

 

RP SINGH – THE NEXT BOWLING COACH OF TEAM INDIA

The Indian cricket team will be evolving with Gambhir becoming the head coach of Team India. If we look at the current scenario then bowling is one of the components in the team which is helping in the victory of the team in the crucial matches.

Talking about RP Singh, he’s a former left-arm pacer known for his raw pace, fiery spells exceptional bowling cricketing mind,     and ability to take wickets in crucial moments. He was a brilliant bowler who was a member of the Indian team that won the 2007 T20 World Cup. This is one of the reasons he could be a valuable asset for this job.

Could he be the ideal candidate for this post?

The Indian team's bowling attack has always been a topic of discussion. With the upcoming changes in the team’s scenario, finding the right bowling option becomes crucial. RP Singh remains connected to the modern game. As he is connected to modern games he knows what difficulties bowlers may face. He also knows how strategies have changed over a period of time and what challenges the bowlers can face in the near future. His recent playing experience will improve and promote better understanding and communication.

Singh has played most of his cricket in India and with that he has an in-depth knowledge and understanding of bowling on Indian pitches. He’s familiar with the challenges and difficulties the bowlers can face.

Singh has developed some fresh talents for India which include young pacers like Shivam Mavi and Karan Sharma during his time as a bowling coach for the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA). These bowlers have performed well in their domestic matches, which shows Singh’s ability to identify talent and polish them

BONDING WITH GAMBHIR

Rp Singh feels that Gambhir is a very good option to become the new Indian cricket team coach after he helped KKR win the IPL 2024 title because of the way he mentored the team. He leads Kolkata to the title in his first season back with the franchise as a mentor. Gambhir and RP Singh have had a great bond with RP Singh since the 2007 World Cup and Gambhir is a great admirer of RP’s balling.

 

Fielding coach – Jonty Rhodes

Jonty Rodes is a South African professional cricket coach, commentator, and former Test and One Day International cricketer. He is considered one of the best fielders of all time and was the first South African cricketer to take 100 ODI catches. He was not just a fielder but the way he defined the fielding standards he earned the nickname “Superman”. Due to his fielding style and excellent diving catches from the boundaries, the whole approach got changed and fielding was considered as a game changing skill.

EXPERIENCE IN FIELDING

Jonty has transitioned from a player to a coach very beautifully. He has worked as the fielding coach of the Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League. He has the knowledge about all the aspects of the fielding positions and has the ability to identify a player’s strengths and weaknesses. His experience in various formats would be very valuable for the Indian team if he becomes the fielding coach.

JONTY BOND WITH GAMBHIR

His bond with Gautam Gambhir got stronger when Gautam was the mentor of Lucknow Super Giants. Rhoades previously applied for the role of India's fielding coach in 2019 but was not shortlisted. At that time, R Shridhar was reappointed as the fielding coach because then-head coach Ravi Shastri preferred to keep his core team intact. Now Gambhir is coming in as the new head coach of the Indian Cricket Team Rhoades can be the new fielding coach of the Indian team.

Recently in an interview when Gambhir was asked about a question regarding taking over as Team India’s head coach,  he said, “I don’t see that far ahead. It is difficult to answer right now. All I can say is that I’m happy being here, just finished a brilliant (IPL) journey. Let’s enjoy that. I’m in a very happy space right now.”

However, if Gautam Gambhir becomes the head coach of Team India, then he is all set to make drastic changes in the Indian Cricket Team, and with a perfect team of brilliant coaches India will surely lift a World Cup.