Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has taken over the coaching baton from Rahul Dravid, who led India to glory in the T20 World Cup. However, one of the challenges for the former coach was the availability of the big players.

As Gautam Gambhir has said he isn’t a big fan of managing workload and said players should be available to play unless they are injured, it will be interesting to note how things pan out.

Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for the ongoing Sri Lanka tour but Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been included in India’s ODI squad. 

“It is not an easy task. It is not like a franchise model, where you are the boss and you can dictate terms. That won’t work here. In the India dressing room you will have to pick up the phone, speak to players, and Dravid was really good at doing that. Even Dravid, when he joined, would have found it a challenge with the landscape of cricket having changed since he retired: everyone is a multimillionaire and is a captain of his respective franchise. So that’s Gambhir’s biggest challenge – dealing with players,” the source said as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo.

A clear communication is definitely the need of the hour between the coach, selectors and the players. 

Meanwhile, Gambhir has kicked off his tenure on a high as the team has won their first two matches against Sri Lanka in the T20I series to take a 2-0 lead.

Gambhir has savored great success while mentoring IPL teams like Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders and he will want to replicate the same success for the national team. The former Indian opener is known for his aggressive approach and under his tutelage, India is expected to take the bull by its horns.