It has been eight months since Gautam Gambhir became the coach of the Indian cricket team. During this time, Team India has seen some heartbreaking defeats and also won the Champions Trophy. It can be said that Gambhir saw both kinds of situations as soon as he became the coach, which included becoming a champion and whitewashing at home to defeat Australia.

After the victory in the Champions Trophy, Gautam Gambhir has got about 3 months' leave. Now when he joins the team in June, England will be a big challenge in front of him. This series will be after the IPL. The Indian team has not won a Test series in England for 18 years. Gambhir's second big challenge will be the T20 World Cup to be held in India and Sri Lanka in 2026 where Suryakumar Yadav's team will come out to defend their title. After this, the biggest challenge will be the 2027 ODI World Cup to be held in South Africa.

If Gautam Gambhir's coaching is seen in different formats, then he has already prepared a group of core players for the T20 team under the leadership of Surya. Even after Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja were out of the shorter format, their absence was not felt. Coach Gambhir has discovered an impressive player in the form of Abhishek Sharma. When Varun Chakravarthy and Jasprit Bumrah bowl in a global competition (World T20), these eight overs will be a nightmare for the batsmen. Sanju Samson has found his rhythm. However, Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal will also be present.

There is a great wicket-taker in the powerplay in the form of Arshdeep Singh and at least three fast-bowling all-rounders in the form of Hardik Pandya, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Shivam Dubey. Along with Hardik, Suryakumar and Akshar are old players of this team. This is a team that has paid attention to all its departments and is moving forward automatically with some changes here and there.

Unlike T20, Gambhir will have to come up with a much better plan in ODI and Test formats. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have made it clear that they are not retiring from ODIs soon. But during the 2027 World Cup, Gambhir will not have the option of using four specialist spinners and creating magic with a score of 240-250. Big scores will be made and the question is whether Rohit will be able to contribute enough along with Kohli with his short and aggressive innings. Kohli will now be in the role of a batsman holding one end.

Shortly, Gambhir will also have to focus on the Test cricket team where he will face the most challenges. If Rohit plays and Jaiswal and KL Rahul are in the top-3, what will happen to Shubman Gill as a Test cricketer? Will he be able to bring all three Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj in the best form for the series against England where swing and seam bowlers will get help? What will happen to that one spot in the middle order which has been India's weakness for some time. Will Karun Nair fit there or will Shreyas Iyer get his place back in the Test team? 'Guru Gambhir' has some tough choices. Now it remains to be seen whether serious decisions are taken and some changes are made or a wait-and-watch strategy is adopted.

PC Social media