India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Saturday (August 22) revealed that he’s in constant touch with the BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar, discussing their plans for the betterment of Indian cricket.
While Gambhir refrained from sharing details of their discussions, he did acknowledge that that the duo was concerned about the recent spate of injuries plaguing the national team.
The pair has navigated critical leadership transitions, with Shreyas Iyer replacing Suryakumar Yadav as T20I captain. Keeping the 2027 World Cup in mind, Shubman Gill was named the new ODI skipper even though veteran Rohit Sharma remains part of the squad.
While India have achieved unprecedented success in white-ball cricket with Gambhir and Agarkar at the helm, their Test graph has gone down considerably. They are currently navigating the team through a red-ball transition.
“I wish I could tell you about the conversation between the head coach and the chairman of selectors," Gambhir told reporters on the eve of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo.
“It’s only about how we want to move forward within cricket, what is important and what are the right decisions to make for betterment within cricket. So probably it’s only around cricket now, how we see it in the game going forward," he added.
The Indian cricket team currently faces an unprecedented injury crisis with several key players undergoing rehabilitation at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE), severely disrupting team balance and squad selections across formats.
Hardik Pandya (quadriceps), Nitish Kumar Reddy (hamstring), Harshit Rana (hamstring) and Varun Chakaravarthy (hamstring) have been out of action for quite a while.
Jasprit Bumrah (knee) and Sai Sudharsan (left foot big toe) were included in India’s Test squad for the Sri Lanka tour subject to fitness clearance, but they couldn’t recover in time.
Jasprit Bumrah (knee) and Sai Sudharsan (left foot big toe) were included in India’s Test squad for the Sri Lanka tour subject to fitness clearance, but they couldn’t recover in time.
Among other players, Akash Deep (lower back stress fracture) has been out for the longest time since Bengal's Ranji Trophy semi-final defeat. Washington Sundar (hamstring) and Prince Yadav (hamstring) are also undergoing fitness assessment and rehabilitation at CoE.
“Even in this series, we have been missing so many players… It’s not the BCCI, but overall, we want our best players to play as much cricket as possible. It’s also because there will be continuity and we can put our best players on the path as regularly as we can," Gambhir remarked.
