Gautam Gambhir stamps authority with Varun Chakravarthy masterstroke but needs to be more open-minded

Late last year during the Australia tour, head coach Gautam Gambhir’s patience finally ran out that Melbourne evening when he had a strong spray at his players in the dressing room for losing the Boxing Day Test that seemed eminently draw-able with a couple of hours left to go on the final day.

“Bahut ho gaya, I have had enough” – Gambhir, as reported by this newspaper then, had told the team. He said he had allowed the team to do what it wanted for the “last six months” but now he would “decide” how they play. There was also a warning – it will be ‘thank you’ to those who don’t abide by his pre-decided team strategy plan.

Since that Melbourne Test, the coach has been stamping his authority more and more.

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The ICC Champions Trophy was his first real big event after the Australia tour. The new beginning, under the more proactive Gambhir, would start with team selection. It’s learnt that it was him who pushed hard for the inclusion of mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy; not many were as sure, but Gambhir knew what he wanted. He also pressed for pacer Harshit Rana over Mohammed Siraj. Also, like his captain, he was certain that they needed five slow bowlers in Dubai.

The Australia tour had embellished his confidence in the kind of players he wanted: A Nitish Kumar Reddy, who would talk about “taking a bullet for the country”; Rana, whose aggression was right down Gambhir’s gully, Washington Sundar’s allrounded-ness over Ravichandran Ashwin’s specialist expertise. Certain kinds of players found themselves edging through the cracks: Ashwin went first, Rishabh Pant too began to hover there, Shubman Gill was dropped.

It’s learnt that Gambhir wasn’t too chuffed by the performance of Ashwin and Jadeja in the home series against New Zealand, and it took Rohit’s intervention to persuade Ashwin to stay and play in the pink-ball Test. To be reduced to being an option in a ‘horses for courses’ policy perhaps didn’t sit too well with Ashwin, but Gambhir was slowly tightening his grip on the team. Jadeja, too, was out of favour for the first few games during the Australia tour.

Strong views

The higher-ups in the cricket board don’t quite mind Gambhir’s approach as they see him as a man with the strength of character who could put up his views strongly even to seniors like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, if needed. At least, not fret about speaking his mind. There were a couple of players at the start of that Australia tour with captaincy aspirations, but they were cut down to size by the end.

Rohit’s inclusivity and penchant to do what’s needed for the team have allowed Gambhir’s punts and plans to go through smoothly.

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Like the left-right combo through the batting line-up, even if that means KL Rahul had to be pushed down or Axar Patel pushed up. Its success emboldened Gambhir; in fact, that move was one of the earliest of his theories he had put into action after taking over as coach.

A particular fallout of that Rahul move was also the sidelining of Pant from the ODI team. Certain murmurs did swell up about the two’s past, dating to the time when both played in the Delhi Ranji Trophy team (Pant was Gambhir’s captain at one point). But in the current context, it’s more due to Pant’s ordinary ODI record (he averages 33 but has publicly said that it was an unfair assessment of his potential in that format), and more importantly, him not fitting in as the kind of player Gambhir was looking for lower down the order.

Rahul’s performances in the Champions Trophy, including in the final, have vindicated the management and selectors. Incidentally, chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and his panel’s contributions deserve a lot of credit too. They haven’t blindly gone along with all requests, stayed firm when needed but have also been open enough to let Gambhir’s theories take root.

Just like the left-right combination, Gambhir was also clear on how he wanted more players who could bowl. As he said in the post-game chat with the broadcasters, he started it right from the series against Sri Lanka, making Riyan Parag bowl. The absence of batting-allrounders has been a concern in the white-ball team for a while, and he actively sought to redress that.

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Road ahead

It’s not all rosy of course; it remains to be seen if he creases out certain character traits.His reported ‘take it or leave it’ communication style has certainly jarred more than a few in the camp.This isn’t surprising as his style might not go down smoothly in the team, especially used to the more overtly warm and inclusive atmosphere created by Rahul Dravid. But while it must have been clear from the get-go that Gambhir’s character is different, it still might take time to get used to. However, there’s nothing like success to ensure that compatibility.

The case of Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion from the ODIs against England at home did prompt some speculation. It was only an injury to Kohli that got Iyer a spot in the first game, where he dazzled and cemented his spot. By the end of that England series, Gambhir talked about how Iyer wouldn’t have been dropped for the entire series and that he was a major player in this format. Maybe. But did Iyer know that, for his chat with the broadcasters at the end of the first game suggested otherwise.

Gambhir’s stint as a coach is at a rather delicate stage right now. After the whitewash at home against New Zealand and the defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia – though it must be said that a two-hour mad implosion in Melbourne and the absence of Jasprit Bumrah on the final day at Sydney could have made all the difference despite everything that was simmering in the camp. And now he has tasted his first success at the Champions Trophy though with the conditions and the strength of the opposition teams, it would have been a shock if India hadn’t won.

But the main takeaway from that tournament was how well the tactical thinking held up – from the careful selection decisions to the style of play, to the personalities chosen as well as the ones discarded. Now that he has got some breathing space with this win, time will tell whether Gambhir adds a touch of warmth to his style within the camp.

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Inculcating insecurity or apprehension in the ranks usually doesn’t work for a long period in cricket teams; Gambhir will have to play his cards smartly to bring a football style iron-hand to cricket even if he feels that’s the need of the hour in professionalising men with the propensity to wander in the garden.

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