Under Gambhir, India has won the 2025 Champions Trophy, 2025 Asia Cup and 2026 T20 World Cup.
Indian coach Gautam Gambhir has shown his worth with India winning two ICC events in two years since he took over. India won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025 and now successfully defended their T20 World Cup crown by winning the 2026 edition on March 8.
India defeated New Zealand in the final on Sunday in Ahmedabad in a one-sided domination. Thanks to Sanju Samson’s 89 and fifties by Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma, India posted 255/5 in 20 overs. In response, New Zealand could only manage 159 runs as Jasprit Bumrah took 4 wickets and Axar Patel took 3 wickets. India won by 96 runs and became the first team to win the T20 World Cup thrice.
During the post-match press conference, India head coach Gautam Gambhir revealed his message to the Indian team that milestones don’t matter anymore, and instead of celebrating them, the team should look to celebrate trophies instead.
“I think my simple philosophy with Surya has always been that milestones don’t matter. It’s the trophies that matter. For too long in Indian cricket, we’ve spoken about milestones. And I hope, till I’m there, we’re not going to talk about milestones,” Gambhir stated in the presser.
Gambhir, who became the first Indian to win the T20 World Cup as a player and as a head coach, did not mince words and made his message clear: stop glorifying individual numbers.
“Stop celebrating milestones; celebrate trophies. That is going to be important because the bigger purpose of a team sport is to win trophies, not score individual runs. It has never mattered to me, and it will never matter to me,” Gambhir added.
According to Gambhir, the current Indian team under Suryakumar has fully bought into that mindset.
“I have been very fortunate that Surya and I were on the same page, especially on this front,” he added.
Gambhir cited Sanju Samson as an example. Samson's explosive knocks, which included a 97 not out in the simulated quarter-final and vital scores of 89 in the semi-final and final, were designed to meet team needs rather than personal goals.
“You can see it in the last three games, what Sanju did. Imagine if you had been playing for a milestone; probably we wouldn’t have gotten 250,” Gambhir stated.
Away from the field, Gambhir also brushed aside the noise from social media criticism that has often followed him during India’s highs and lows.
“My accountability is not towards any social media. For Gambhir, the team environment itself is built on something deeper than results—trust. You pick the team on trust and faith. You don’t pick on hope. And when you pick someone on trust and faith, you don’t lose that after four or five games," Gambhir concluded.
(ANI inputs)