Gautam Gambhir is reportedly close to taking over as India's head coach after a lengthy chat with BCCI secretary Jay Shah on the sidelines of the IPL 2024 final. The deadline for applying for the job was May 27, and the BCCI has yet to reveal the list of applicants.
However, Gambhir, the mentor of the IPL 2024 winning team, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), is said to be the front-runner for the head coach position. Rahul Dravid's time as head coach ends after the T20 World Cup in 2024, and he has declined an extension offer from the BCCI.
The new head coach will have a three-year all-format contract that will run till the ICC World Cup 2027.
Gautam Gambhir is highly regarded as a leader, as under his captaincy KKR won the IPL title twice in 2012 and 2014 and now won the title in 2024 with him as a mentor. He was also the mentor of Lucknow Super Giants, who qualified for the playoffs in IPL 2022 and 2023.
As per a report of Cricbuzz, Gambhir's appointment is nearly certain, and negotiations are ongoing on several fronts.
"A very high-profile owner of an IPL franchise, who is very close to the BCCI top brass, said that Gambhir's appointment is a done deal and the announcement will come soon. A high-profile commentator, who is very clued to the happenings in the BCCI said efforts are being made to rope in Gambhir. The fact that an announcement has not yet come suggests that negotiations are underway on multiple fronts -- between the two parties and, perhaps, with some others too," the report said.
"The buzzword inside the coach selection circle is 'desh ke liye karna hai'. Both the BCCI and Gambhir share the belief that 'we must do it for the country.' And the conversation between Jay Shah and Gambhir is understood to be centered around this idea," the Cricbuzz report stated.
This was after Jay Shah rejected claims that the BCCI had approached any former Australian cricketer to be India's next head coach.
Gambhir has informed those close to him that he is considering the offer. Even Shah Rukh Khan is aware of this. Monday was the deadline for submitting an application for the position, and he is likely to have done so, though no confirmation has been received yet.
(Cricbuzz inputs)
