Ravi Shastri’s brutal opinion on Gautam Gambhir’s appointment as head coach, says “sensible guy…”

Gautam Gambhir begins his reign as coach of the Indian team on Saturday when the Suryakumar Yadav-led side takes on Sri Lanka in the first T20I of a three-match series. Gambhir replaced former Indian captain Rahul Dravid at the helm after his contract expired at the end of last month. Since then, a lot has been said and written about Gambhir’s appointment and what he will bring to the table. Former India coach Ravi Shastri shared his views on Gambhir’s appointment. Shastri passed the baton to Dravid after the end of the 2021 T20 World Cup.

Although the Indian team did not win an ICC trophy during his tenure, the team, under the leadership of Virat Kohli, reached new heights in Test cricket, including back-to-back Test series victories in Australia.

Although Gambhir has not had any coaching experience in the IPL, he has worked as a mentor at several franchises and masterminded KKR’s title-winning campaign earlier this year.

However, Shastri feels that a young coach like Gambhir will bring a fresh approach to the Indian team.

“He’s contemporary, he’s just had a great season in the IPL. I think he’s the right age where he’s young, he’ll come up with new ideas. of teams in the IPL, so I think it’s refreshing,” Shastri said on The ICC Review Show.

Shastri added that while Gambhir is a no-nonsense guy, player management will be key during his tenure.

“And we know Gautam is a sensible guy. He will also have his ideas. you might think he’s mature, he could benefit from some new ideas. So I think it’s going to be interesting times. Obviously, player management becomes key as a coach. I think he has the tools, the resources for the job and the experience.”

“It’s a matter of understanding your players as quickly as possible. What are their strengths, what kind of human beings are they and what kind of temperaments do they have? What are their personalities? A lot goes on behind the scenes to understand a human being,” Shastri added.

“I think this will be his most important task, which, again, I don’t think should be a problem because he is contemporary. He saw these guys from the outside, dealt with a lot of guys who could have played for KKR as well and for Lucknow (Super Giants) when he was there.”