Former Team India cricket coach Lalchand Rajput has spoken about the appointment of Gautam Gambhir as the team’s head coach. He is confident that the team’s new coach will inspire the Men in Blue, just like he did with the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.

The Indian national cricket team has a new head coach after the 2024 T20 World Cup. Gautam Gambhir has been appointed as the head coach of the team across all three formats of the game. This comes after Rahul Dravid’s tenure ended after India won the tournament.

Gautam Gambhir, considered the fiercest character, will take on the role of Team India for the tour of Sri Lanka. The Men in Blue will play the three-match T20I series and the three-match ODI series starting from July 27 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele.

Gautam Gambhir was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He was the mentor of the team and under his leadership, the franchise won the title. He completely changed the way the team played cricket and helped them win the title.

The aggressive Gautam Gambhir will now be hoping to take the Indian National Cricket Team to great heights. He will be replacing Rahul Dravid who won the 2024 T20 World Cup, so expectations would be high for Gambhir as he focuses on some of the bigger tournaments.

Lalchand Rajput spoke about Gautam Gambhir’s coaching style and said that he is a very straightforward person. While he stressed that the Indian coach hates losing, he hopes that the former India captain inculcates that among the players. Speaking to Hindustan Times, he explained:

“Every coach has a different style of working. Rahul was calm but Gambhir is a very direct, passionate person and hates to lose. He will instil that in the players. We have already seen the KKR team come out of nowhere to win convincingly. Hopefully he will inspire the Indian team in the same way.”

I won’t say the dressing room will be affected too much: Lalchand Rajput on Suryakumar Yadav’s arrival as captain ahead of Hardik Pandya

Lalchand Rajput also spoke about the possibility of Suryakumar Yadav being the captain instead of Hardik Pandya, and said that the dressing room will not be affected and it will all depend on how quickly Suryakumar can gel with the players. He explained:

“I’m not saying the dressing room will be affected much. Everyone knows that captaincy is always a management decision. What matters is how quickly Suryakumar can settle in and get the team to follow his ideas. That will take the team forward. The coach and the captain have to work together and take the team forward.”

Gautam Gambhir, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya will be seen in action when India take on Sri Lanka in the first T20I, starting from July 27.