The head coach position in the Indian men’s cricket team currently remains vacant, with Rahul Dravid having already stepped down from the post last Saturday, following the side’s title victory at the 2024 T20 World Cup. The head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA), VVS Laxman, has been sent along with the Shubman Gill-led new-look India T20I side for the five-match series in Zimbabwe, as the stand-in head coach. But BCCI secretary Jay Shah confirmed last week that Team India will officially have its new head coach during the tour of Sri Lanka later this month.
Gautam Gambhir has emerged as the leading contender to replace Dravid as the head coach, even as the very experienced WV Raman, the only other Indian candidate for the post, reportedly had a better interview with BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee last month. While talks around Gambhir had begun during the second half of the IPL 2024 season, his stocks rose after he mentored the Kolkata Knight Riders side to a third title win this season in May.
As the talks around his appointment continue to heat up, a report in Times Now claims that Gambhir arrived in Kolkata on Friday to shoot an official farewell video with KKR at the Eden Gardens. It was only in November last year when the franchise named the former India opener as the mentor for the 2024 season, marking his return to KKR, where he won two IPL titles as a captain, after almost a decade.
However, Gambhir is now ready to say goodbye to KKR after just a one-season stint as a mentor, with the farewell clip slated to capture his journey with the franchise. “It was a low-key affair, but Gambhir wanted to bid goodbye to his fans with a message and that is why they shot a video at the Eden,” the official told the news channel in case of anonymity.
The report certainly confirms the appointment of Gambhir, who was a key member of the Indian team that won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, as the head coach of the Indian team. His first assignment will be the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka where India will play a three-match T20I series and three ODIs, beginning from July 27. The 50-over series will also mark the start of India’s preparation for the Champions Trophy next year.
