India suffered a whitewash in home Test series against New Zealand under Gambhir's coaching.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir has come under severe criticism after the team’s humiliating whitewash in the recently held Test series against New Zealand at home.
The Rohit Sharma-led side lost the three consecutive Test matches in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai. This outcome also marked the end of their remarkable streak of 18 consecutive home Test series victories.
Gambhir was named the chief coach after Rahul Dravid’s tenure ended with the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph in June. The former opener was appointed with a lot of expectations as he mentored KKR to the IPL title earlier this year.
His stint with the Men in Blue began on a bitter-sweet note as India won the T20I series 3-0 and lost the ODIs 0-2 on the tour of Sri Lanka.
As the BCCI top brass tightens its screws on the slumping performances, Gambhir finds himself in a tough spot ahead of the upcoming five-Test tour of Australia.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy could well prove to be a make-or-break assignment for Gambhir to sustain the India coach job in the longest format.
According to a report in Dainik Jagran, if the Indian team fails to deliver a positive result in Australia, the BCCI could ask a specialist like VVS Laxman to take up the coach's role in Test cricket while Gambhir would stay put only in white-ball formats.
It isn't yet known how Gambhir would react if it comes down to such a change. If the BGT turns out to be a closely-fought contest, then the BCCI might have a tough decision on its hands to make.
Meanwhile, news agency PTI on Friday (November 8) reported that Gautam Gambhir was grilled in a six-hour meeting, conducted by the BCCI to review the shocking result against New Zealand. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar and India's ODI and Test skipper Rohit Sharma were also part of the meeting.
"It was a six-hour marathon meeting, which was obviously on cards after such a debacle. India are going on a tour of Australia, and the BCCI would obviously like to ensure that the team is back on track and would like to know how the think-tank (Gambhir-Rohit-Agarkar) are going about it," a senior BCCI source told PTI.
It has been learned that some people in the Indian team think tank aren't on the same page with Gambhir over the team selection. Such differences certainly don't augur well for the team ahead of the Australia tour.