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 a suitable candidate to coach the Test side.

According to reports, Gambhir had some stern words for the entire squad in the dressing room after India lost seven wickets in a session to lose the Boxing Day Test at MCG.

There are speculations that the senior players are not pleased with Gambhir’s coaching style, which has been compared to Greg Chappell, who had a famous fall-out with the then senior Indian cricketers during his coaching tenure.

Amid the scrutiny, former India cricketer Robin Uthappa has come out in strong support of under-fire Gautam Gambhir.

“I disagree with you that his style is similar to Greg Chappell’s,” Uthappa said on Lallantop. “I don’t agree with it at all. I have not met a more straightforward person than Gauti.

“He is very direct. You may not like what he says, but he will tell it you on your face, you can be sure of that and I love people like that.

“According to me, these people have a good life. They say whatever they are thinking, and that is enough. You get what you see, that is better than being a different person behind someone’s back.

“I prefer someone being straightforward with me, and Gauti is very, very straight.”

Uthappa also suggested that Gambhir is doing well in T20Is because he has complete control and he is helping Suryakumar Yadav evolve as a leader.

“He likes to run the ship and right now after the World Cup and him joining the team, he is joining a side of two different teams, infact three different leaders now. You have SKY, Rohit and then the ODI side is Hardik right? It is still Rohit, sorry.

“There are those different styles he has to adjust to right now, one where he has complete control, with T20Is. He is running the ship and he is taking SKY along and evolving him as a leader. There is freedom there,” he said.

Sharing his two cents on the chemistry between Gambhir and Rohit, Uthappa said: “Here they are probably finding the chemistry of the dynamic. It hasn’t been set yet, probably with Bumrah, he was leading his first Test, so the chemistry was better.”

“Some just probably click and some take some time to click. It is not like the chemistry is not there. It is there and you can see in Gambhir’s interviews. He respects and likes Rohit a lot. Sometimes, relationships take time, as both are leaders with their own styles.”