Ex-India spinner Harbhajan Singh supports the notion of India having separate coaches for different formats in the future.
While Gautam Gambhir, India's head coach since July 2024, has responded angrily to the suggestion, Harbhajan believes there is "nothing wrong" with having different coaches for the red-ball and white-ball formats, given how the Indian team has performed over the past 17 months.
During Gambhir's tenure as head coach, the Men in Blue were successful in limited-overs forms, winning the ICC Champions Trophy and Asia Cup under Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav.
However, Gambhir’s tenure in Test cricket has been poor as India suffered two whitewashes at home in Tests within a year. India also lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a 1-3 series defeat in Australia and now faces the risk of missing the ICC World Test Championship final for the second time in a row.
Harbhajan Singh has stated that the BCCI did not have to implement the move straight away, given India did not play Test cricket until August, but might do so later if the situation required it.
“It is not that easy to become a coach of India. To be a coach, you have to travel with the team for a whole year and keep yourself involved in the game. You have to be more engaged because there are multiple team selections, and you also need to focus on match results. In India, it is our tradition that if the team plays well, everyone is quiet, but as soon as the team plays poorly, we get on top of the coach,” Harbhajan told news agency ANI.
“Gautam Gambhir does not go there to play. When he was playing, he played well. He played very well for India. Everyone needs to be patient. If you feel you need to split the coaching, such as adopting a policy of one white ball and one red ball, then there is no need to do so for now. But over time, if needed, you should definitely do it. There is nothing wrong with that,” he added.
There have been calls for split coaching for the Indian team, given India’s poor showing in Tests under Gambhir, but a good record in white-ball cricket.
