BCCI, Gautam Gambhir Ties Strained

Gautam Gambhir (R) & BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia (Source: AFP Photos)

Despite the fact that India won the Champions Trophy 2025 and the T20 World Cup 2026 with Gautam Gambhir as their head coach, he often comes up in discussions for negative reasons.

Of course, India’s failures in Tests, especially at home against New Zealand and South Africa, often left the BCCI questioning whether Gambhir was capable of being India’s head coach across formats in the first place, before his appointment.

And it seemed like there had been a communication gap between him and the BCCI of late, as the Times of India (TOI) revealed.

BCCI Opts Not To Coordinate With Gambhir For India’s Preparations

The TOI reported that the BCCI has not discussed anything with Gautam Gambhir while setting up India A’s upcoming fixtures. Usually, India A’s fixtures are used to be their primary platform to see who their potential newcomers are and who can fill the gap if an emergency arises.

“The BCCI's operations team usually charts the schedule in coordination with the CoE, the Indian team management and the selectors. Such coordination became standard when Rahul Dravid was in charge of India's developmental sides and the erstwhile National Cricket Academy, now the CoE,” a TOI report read.

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However, for the upcoming two big assignments: India tour of New Zealand and Australia tour of India, there has been no communication between Gambhir and the BCCI in terms of preparations.

“Sources said the Indian team management was not involved in drawing up the season's fixtures. The BCCI had accommodated Shubman Gill's request for adequate preparation time while planning the recently concluded tour of Sri Lanka,” it added.

“But the current schedule has made it difficult for Gill and the team management to prepare for the New Zealand tour and the BGT,” the report ended.

Gautam Gambhir Vs Dravid: What’s The Difference?

There is a stark difference in personality between Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid. While Dravid prefers to keep quiet and let his team’s performance do the talking, Gambhir often comes up with blunt remarks irrespective of India’s outcomes.

Moreover, Dravid has a calm persona, which yielded him great results during his illustrious playing days on his journey to becoming one of India’s finest-ever Test batters.

Gambhir, on the other hand, had his in-built fighting nature always show on camera. Yes, it gave him results as a player, as a captain, and finally as KKR's mentor in IPL 2024, which led the BCCI to fast-track his appointment as India’s head coach immediately after.

Nevertheless, India were a far better Test side under Dravid, and there seemed to be logic in the naked eye in terms of selecting a red-ball side. Gambhir, meanwhile, often tends to have an all-rounder-boosted lineup instead of specialists.

Gambhir’s peculiar moves yielded unfavourable results, which left the BCCI rethinking whether there was still time to remove him from his position before further damage.

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