Gautam Gambhir’s name is leading in the coach race. Gambhir has made KKR IPA champions under his mentorship.
Mumbai. Former India coach Lalchand Rajput believes that Gautam Gambhir is the right candidate to take Indian cricket forward. The world champion coach said that Gambhir is a smart tactician and a two-time World Cup winner. There is no confirmation whether Gambhir has officially applied for the India coach post or not. It is being speculated that he may replace Rahul Dravid after the T20 World Cup. The last date to apply for the post of India head coach ended on May 27. The Indian team won the T20 World Cup in 2007 under the coach of Rajput.
Lalchand Rajput said, ‘Gautam Gambhir is completely devoted to his work. He has played hard cricket and understands the game well. This has also been seen for KKR. KKR was the same team last year too. You can feel the change in the team this year. Gambhir is also a shrewd strategist Rajput said Gambhir’s experience as a two-time World Cup-winning Indian player will also be useful for the team. He said, ‘Gambir has won two World Cups as a player. He is a good candidate, but it all depends on BCCI who they want. I think Gambhir will be the right candidate to take Indian cricket forward.
Comparing the 2007 World T20-winning Indian team and the current US team, the former Indian opener said that having experienced players in the team is beneficial. He said, ‘You must also have some experience. We cannot go with a completely new team because there is pressure in the World Cup. Rajput said, ‘You have to have some senior players and you have to have juniors with them because they complement each other. If you look at our 2007 team, there were experienced players like (Virender) Sehwag, Gambhir, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan (Singh), RP Singh and Yuvraj. He was accompanied by young players like Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik. It was a good mix.
Lalchand Rajput said that it would be difficult to select the playing eleven for India, but he favored Rishabh Pant as wicketkeeper-batsman and Virat Kohli as opening batsman.
Tags: Gautam Gambhir, Lalchand Rajput
First published: June 4, 2024, 19:50 IST