India are yet to lose a T20I series since Gambhir’s appointment as head coach.
Team India look to be in belligerent form ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026 and will enter the tournament as a formidable contender to retain their title.
In the lead up to the global showpiece, the Suryakumar Yadav-led side is currently hosting New Zealand in a five-T20I series. The Men in Blue are leading the series 3-1 after first four matches.
India won the series opener by 48 runs, and chased down 209 and 154 in 15.2 and 10 overs during the second and third T20Is to emerge victorious by seven wickets and eight wickets respectively.
This marks ninth consecutive T20I series win for the Indian team since Gautam Gambhir’s appointment as head coach.
While Gambhir often draws backlash for India’s struggles in the longer formats, former cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra said the chief coach deserves full credit for team’s success in T20Is.
"Gautam Gambhir deserves credit. When we don't hesitate to criticise, then why hesitate to praise? I'm talking about India's T20 batting approach. That approach is not the future - it's the present. We understood it late. The formula was the same: 11 players, 20 overs, and this is what you can achieve if you play fearlessly. India weren't able to do it before," Chopra said in a video posted on X.
"Even now, ODI and T20I series take place together. New Zealand's bowling unit hasn't changed, but India's approach has. The moment we started dominating and decimating, we broke the opposition's resolve. Now they are saying even 300 might not be enough because this team is different," he added.
Chopra mentioned that India's T20I and ODI squads used to "overlap" in the pre-Gambhir era, which diluted the aggressive intent required in the shortest format.
"Gautam Gambhir did the work. Previously, the talk was about playing aggressively under Rohit Sharma. Rohit did play that way and walked the talk. Secondly, the T20I side used to overlap with the ODI team. A lot of overlap used to happen and the approach was different," Chopra stated.
"Not everyone played aggressively. But the present side is a team of assassins and destroyers - whether it's Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube or Rinku Singh," he further remarked.
India will begin their T20 World Cup title defence on February 7 against the USA at the Wankhede Stadium.
India’s T20 World Cup 2026 squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Axar Patel (vc), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Washington Sunder, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy