India’s new head coach, Gautam Gambhir, recently, shared a video of him playing Badminton, on Instagram. He captioned the post as:
‘Smash your fears!’
At the time of writing, the video has received over 92,000 likes.
In the video, Gambhir is seen showcasing his Badminton skills. You can watch it here:
Gambhir was announced as the head coach of the Indian Cricket Team after Rahul Dravid’s contract with the BCCI ended post the T20 World Cup win. Gambhir has had previous coaching credentials, having served as the mentor with Lucknow Super Giants and then carrying Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL 2024 title as mentor of the side.
Gautam Gambhir has had a mixed start to his tenure
Gambhir has signed the contract with the BCCI until the end of the 2027 ODI World Cup. He had a fantastic start to his tenure as India whitewashed Sri Lanka in the T20I series under Suryakumar Yadav.
Gambhir played a big role in naming Suryakumar Yadav as the new captain in T20Is after Rohit Sharma’s retirement. He felt that Yadav will be best suited for the captaincy. Hardik Pandya wasn’t given the leadership role keeping in mind his fitness issues and workload management.
However, in the ODI series, which followed thereafter, India suffered a 2-0 defeat over Sri Lanka. The Indian batters failed miserably against Sri Lanka’s spin attack.
The former Indian opener will be facing several challenges going ahead as the head coach. India is due to play against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series 2024-25. Moreover, India will also have their eyes set on the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and the ICC World Test Championship Final 2025.
Since Gautam Gambhir’s appointment as the head coach, there were concerns over his relationship with Virat Kohli. The duo has had their fair share of heated arguments on the field, in the past. However, both of them have put that behind and moved ahead.
“Our focus is on working together and doing everything we can to win matches for India.” Gautam said in a press conference.
Meanwhile, India’s next assignment will be two-match Test series against Bangladesh, which starts from 19th September 2024.