India head coach Gautam Gambhir has come under the scanner after the team’s poor show in the recently held Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under.

Gambhir was named India’s head coach after Rahul Dravid’s tenure ended with the T20 World Cup triumph in June 2024. The southpaw was appointed with a lot of expectations as he mentored KKR to the IPL title last 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. Subsequently, India suffered a humiliating 0-3 defeat in the home Test series against New Zealand under his guidance.

The recent 1-3 drubbing at the hands of Australia is drawing him a lot of flak, with many experts and former cricketers suggesting that Gambhir is not suitable for the role.

Amid a wave of scrutiny, England’s new white-ball head coach Brendon McCullum has come out in support of Gautam Gambhir, hailing his Indian counterpart as a ‘really strong leader of men’ who can utilize the team’s full potential.

“What I will say about Gautam Gambhir is I’ve worked with him before and he’s an outstanding leader," McCullum said in a press conference in Kolkata on Monday (January 20).

“He’s a really strong leader of men and in the time that he’s had in any sort of leadership positions which he’s held previously, he’s been able to excel I’m sure.”

“He’s only just sort of got underway with this team, but there’s no doubt that he’ll get the best out of the talent that he’s got, and we’ve got to find a way to be able to counter that with our own style," McCullum added.

Brendon McCullum was KKR’s head coach and his impressive style fetched him England’s red-ball coach job in 2022. Now, the good work earned him the white-ball gig as well. The upcoming five T20Is and three ODIs against India will be his maiden assignment as the white-ball coach.

“I don’t really know, sometimes I don’t even know if coach is the right word to be honest," McCullum said, speaking about his approach. “I think everyone does things really differently, and everyone’s approaches are very unique and from how I try and operate, I think it’s probably less of a coach and try and make sure that the environment is a happy and enjoyable environment where you guys feel as if they can push their talents and push themselves towards the uncomfortable situations and know that there’s still going to be that support and that care there afterward and be encouraged to go again towards those."

“Other coaches are very different, they like to run quite structured, quite technical. Other coaches are probably a bit more regimented in the way that they go about things, but I guess it’s really different," he remarked.