Gautam Gambhir's approach of high risk, high reward paid off for India as they clinched a third T20 World Cup title on Sunday (March 8) by beating New Zealand in the final at Ahmedabad.
With this triumph, Gambhir became the first Indian head coach to win two ICC titles, having secured the Champions Trophy last year. He also guided the team to Asia Cup triumph in 2025.
Speaking on Cricbuzz, former England skipper Michael Vaughan showered rich praise on Gambhir for producing unprecedented results in white-ball cricket.
“I think Gautam Gambhir gets a lot of stick in India because primarily the Test team have not performed. But in white-ball cricket, if you look at what he’s doing now… he’s won the Champions Trophy, won a T20 World Cup, won an Asia Cup as well. He knows what he’s doing with the white-ball team and he’s taken the white-ball team from what was an excellent squad when he took over the job. You know, let’s be honest, I wouldn’t mind coaching this Indian side!” Vaughan said.
India’s Test graph has gone down considerably under Gambhir, winning 7, losing 10 and drawing two of their 19 Tests so far, which includes a couple of clean sweeps against New Zealand (0-3) and South Africa (0-2) at home.
The team also conceded the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-3 in Australia. The only Test series wins in his tenure have come against Bangladesh and the West Indies in home conditions.
However, Vaughan backed Gambhir to withstand all the external pressure and commended him for the way he handled many superstar players in the squad.
“I don’t think it takes a great deal, but it takes a great deal of management and it takes a great deal of leadership to manage a lot of superstar players. And not only the superstar players that are in the XI, you’ve got a few that aren’t in the team, and then you’ve got many more trying to get into the team,” Vaughan stated.
“And with the fanatical support that you have here in India and the media scrutiny… you mentioned the memes and the GIFs and all this stuff about the Indian side going back to Ahmedabad… well, the coach has to deal with that. And he has to try and calm this team down, and he’s done a wonderful job. I think in white-ball cricket, you’ve got an exceptional coach. He’s just got to try and move that into the Test matches,” he further remarked.
India's T20 World Cup 2026 campaign was nearly flawless as they lost only one match en route to defending their title at home. They defeated USA, Namibia, Pakistan and Netherlands in the group stage, before losing to South Africa in the Super 8s.
However, the team bounced back brilliantly and outclassed Zimbabwe, West Indies, England and New Zealand in the remainder of the tournament to lift the coveted trophy.
