Former India coach and captain Anil Kumble urged current head coach Gautam Gambhir to begin preparing the team for the 2027 World Cup after the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025 tournament. He also hinted that Gambhir should take tough calls regarding senior players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
India started well, defeating Bangladesh in its opening match by 6 wickets thanks to Shubman Gill’s unbeaten ton and Mohammad Shami’s fifer. However, the match once again showed that time is slowly running out for India’s senior stars.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been under quite some pressure since the 2024 T20 World Cup, as their form deserted them during the India Test home season and on the tour of Australia. Rohit did hit a century against England in ODIs, and Kohli scored a fifty against the same opposition, but they have not been consistent.
In the match against Bangladesh, Kohli mustered 22 off 38 deliveries, while Rohit scored 41 off 36 balls, including seven fours. Fans were reminded by Kohli's knock in particular that the RCB star is far from at his best because he only managed one four.
Anil Kumble, who was India's coach in the 2017 Champions Trophy, believed that following the event, Gambhir would have to make some "tough calls" regarding the future of "the legacy players."
Kumble also said that the outcome of the current competition would determine the future of older players like Rohit, Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and Shami because of the significance of the 2027 ODI World Cup.
“You could say this is a very important tournament for a coach who has to make those tough calls in terms of transitioning from the legacy players to the others. But that's the job of the coach, to make those hard decisions.
This tournament could determine where those seniors would go, and where India would look at making those changes. Win or lose, you need these tough calls to be made at the earliest. You need to start looking ahead in white-ball cricket, especially at the 2027 World Cup,” Kumble said on ESPNCricinfo.
In order to ensure that India is ready for the 2027 ODI World Cup, Kumble also gave Gambhir some suggestions, advising him to include a few younger players in the starting lineup.
“In any World Cup, you're looking at building a squad that has played at least 20 or 25 matches together. That's when you understand the nuances of match situations, and who to rely on. Ideally, at the end of this tournament, you must start looking ahead to the next World Cup. Do the seniors make it there? Or do we give the opportunity to youngsters to take the team forward in the shorter formats and build a strong unit? These are questions Gambhir needs to address,” he said.
“He has a fresh, young team and plenty of players to choose and build from, so he needs to organically start preparing for the 2027 World Cup. In T20Is, he's done well. Suryakumar Yadav has been a great captain. The next World Cup is still two years from now, and the new set of players will need a consistent run of games playing with each other to understand many things like the batting order, match situation, and tactics,” he added.
Kohli’s knock was painful to watch as he walked in with India on 69/1 and played 9 straight dot balls. He only managed an uncontrollable pull shot for a boundary before being caught at the backward point with India at 112/2, after attempting to cut Rishad Hossain.
