Gautam Gambhir was recently named KKR mentor ahead of the upcoming IPL 2024.
Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir praised Australia for consistently choosing local coaches, highlighting the trust they place in former players.
Gambhir further suggested that India and Pakistan should follow in Australia’s footsteps and prioritize coaches from their own countries after the Kangaroos recently won their sixth ICC World Cup title, defeating India in the 2023 final last month.
The 2011 World Cup winner also highlighted the significance of having coaches from within the nation and pointed out Australia's history of doing so and getting rich success, citing examples like Justin Langer and Andrew McDonald.
Gautam Gambhir was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda: “Who was the last non-Australian coach of the men’s team? Their head coach is always Australian. They had Justin Langer, now Andrew McDonald, and before them some other Australian. I said this a year back that India and Pakistan should have coaches from their own country and people had criticized it a lot.”
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The former opener continued, “A lot of people said that we won under Gary Kirsten [as coach in 2011]. The emotion that Rahul Dravid will have when he wears that white or blue T-shirt, no foreign coach will have that. We have such a rich history; we do not have to look outside.”
Gambhir signed off by saying, “We are not a nation that has started playing cricket 10 years back. We have players who have won us World Cups. Emotions are very important in sports – what you think about your country and your team. Australia’s biggest strength is that they never look at foreign players as head coach. They will hire consultants, but not for long term because they believe in their people. We need to do the same.”
Gambhir was recently named Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) mentor ahead of the upcoming IPL 2024.
(With Sportskeeda Inputs)