Former opener Gautam Gambhir replaced Rahul Dravid as the head coach of the Indian men’s cricket earlier this month. He will begin his tenure with the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, starting on July 27.

Gambhir has been roped in by the BCCI with a lot of expectations after he mentored Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the IPL title earlier this year.

Former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik also has high hopes from Gambhir, who has been appointed in the high-profile role for a period of three and a half years.

Karthik hailed Gambhir as a very good leader and someone who is tactically very astute. He also called the head coach as players’ man.

“He’s a very good leader. I think he will bring two things to the Indian team. One is the fact that he’s a complete players’ man. He protects his players, and that’s very important in international cricket because, at times, you can feel lonely or deserted in international cricket when performances don’t go your way. So, Gambhir is going to do that,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.

“And number two, he’ll definitely bring a clever tactical angle to this Indian team. Very fierce, intense guy, and I always liked playing for the team and did whatever it took to win a game of cricket,” he added.

Gautam Gambhir relinquished his IPL commitments before joining the Indian team. Following two seasons of mentoring the Lucknow Super Giants, the 42-year-old assumed a similar role with the Kolkata Knight Riders earlier this year.

Under the guidance of Gambhir, KKR clinched the IPL 2024 title, which strengthened his claims for the India coach job.