While India’s white-ball side has been performing exceptionally well under head coach Gautam Gambhir, producing trophies and strong win-loss records, that success has not translated to the traditional format.
With Gambhir at the helm, India have won seven, lost 10 and drew two of their 19 Tests so far, which includes a couple of clean sweeps against New Zealand (0-3) and South Africa (0-2) at home.
The team also conceded the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-3 in Australia. The only Test series wins under Gambhir's tenure have come against Bangladesh and the West Indies at home.
After the recent home Test debacle against South Africa, calls for Gambhir’s sacking have grown louder, with fans and experts criticizing his team selection and strategy.
Moreover, a report published in PTI suggests that someone in the BCCI had informally approached VVS Laxman to check if he would be interested in coaching the red-ball team. However, it is learnt that the legendary batter is happy being the chief of BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru.
While Gambhir's contract as India head coach is due to expire at the end of the 2027 ODI World Cup, there is every chance that it could be revisited, depending upon India's performance in the upcoming T20 World Cup at home.
It is learnt that in the BCCI corridors, the jury is still out on whether Gambhir is the right person to guide the red-ball team for remaining nine Tests of the World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle.
India have a couple of overseas assignments comprising two Tests each against Sri Lanka (August 2026) and New Zealand (October 2026). The team will then host Australia in a five-Test series in January-February 2027.
"Gambhir does have (a) strong backing within the power corridors of Indian cricket and obviously, if India retain the T20 World Cup or at least reach the final, he would be seamlessly continuing with his assignment. However, it would be interesting if Gambhir continues in Tests too," a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
"His advantage being (that there) aren't too many alternate options in red ball format since VVS Laxman isn't interested in coaching senior Test team," the source added.
According to the report, the Indian dressing room is a confused place these days with plenty of players dealing with insecurities in the Gambhir regime unlike the Rahul Dravid era, when roles were defined.
“Shubman Gill's exclusion from the T20 World Cup squad had Gambhir's footprints written all over it and it has certainly made a lot of players believe that if Indian cricket's next poster boy could be dumped by the wayside, the next omission number could have anyone's name written on it,” the report further stated.
The BCCI always takes time when it comes to policy decisions and there will be two months of Indian Premier League after the T20 World Cup 2026.
The concerned people in the board will have enough time to take a call about split coaching or having a single coach across formats, after analysing India's display at the global showpiece.
Moving forward, the next two months will be very crucial to decide Gautam Gambhir’s fate as India head coach.
(With PTI Inputs)
