India head coach Gautam Gambhir, left, chief selector Ajit Agarkar, centre, and captain Suryakumar Yadav. (AP photo) Gambhir, Agarkar tasted success as he took tough calls. They will stick to their principles when they schedule games in LA and T20 World Cup In 2028? But wait, there is ODI World Cup in the meantime…Moments after lifting the T20 World Cup on Sunday night, Suryakumar Yadav bluntly declared that India’s next goal now is to win an Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles in 2028. Was the all-conquering team getting ahead in the immediate glow of victory, or were the captain’s comments of future conquests underpinned by a clear plan and philosophy?Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!India’s T20 renaissance began with an overhaul of approach the day England beat them in the semi-finals of the 2022 T20 World Cup.The triumph in June 2024 confirmed the challenge taken in November 2022. Here head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar stepped in and announced that the process of becoming a T20 powerhouse had not stopped in Barbados as Rohit Sharma lifted India’s first ICC trophy in 11 years.
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The process became tougher and thankless. Designated vice-captain Hardik Pandya was no longer considered for the leadership role due to his ongoing injury concerns. Surya took command as captain. Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal, part of the 2024 World Cup winning team, have dropped down the order. Kuldeep Yadav, the lead spinner in 2024, became the second choice behind Varun Chakravarthy. Much has been made of Shubman Gill’s promotion to T20 vice-captain and then his eventual axing from the World Cup squad.The blink-and-miss nature of T20 cricket doesn’t give you much time to catch your breath. Gambhir and Agarkar successfully drilled it into the players they supported to defend India’s T20 crown – the composition of the T20 teams was based on the conditions expected at the World Cup.READ ALSO: Team India report card: A perfect end to a not-so-perfect T20 World Cup campaignAs important as the skill of the players was, the ethos of this management drove the performances. For example, Gambhir will not tire of his ‘team over individual’ and ‘results over milestones’ philosophy. He set out to eliminate the “superstar culture” in the dressing room.Perhaps the real test of Gambhir and Agarkar’s philosophies begins from here. The emphatic triumph gave Indian fans a new set of superstars. Surya’s name will be placed alongside Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma in the list of World Cup winning captains.Former India coach Devang Gandhi says people must not confuse superstar culture with privilege. “Indian cricket will always raise superstars. Every sport will have superstars. People have to understand if a player is exercising unreasonable rights like traveling alone and staying apart from the rest of the team. Because all that affects the culture of the dressing room. Big players go through a special slump. I’m sure the selectors and the team management understand that. A player brings it all to the team.Ahead of the ODI World Cup in South Africa in October-November 2027, Gambhir and Agarkar’s main focus will understandably shift to stabilizing an ODI squad that has seen frequent fluctuations of late. But T20 World Cups keep coming and going fast. With the Olympics and the T20 World Cup in 2028, India will play two major T20 tournaments a year after the 2027 ODI World Cup.Under Gambhir, India have successfully set a T20 template that other teams will try to replicate. Rational thought says that there must be continuity. But the biggest conflict here is that Gambhir himself advocated flexibility (and countered predictability) as the essence of playing T20 cricket.Surya’s long run of poor form and the revelation of Varun Chakravarthy’s mystery spin will top the list of worries for the head coach and chief selector. Winning the trophy gave both Gambhir and Agarkar some leeway in terms of identifying the next leader, especially after Project Gill crashed a month before the World Cup.“I don’t see the need to make immediate changes. This group of boys are more T20 specialists and are extremely confident. That said, I’m sure Gambhir and the selectors will leave no room for complacency in the dressing room. We’ll focus on the ODI team. But I’m sure they’ll be watching the T20 team closely and I think after a few calls they’ll know the tough T20 team’s performance from that philosophy,” said the former India goalkeeper Deep Dasgupta TOI. “Just as they prepared for this World Cup in India, they will definitely assess the ability of the players in the SENA countries as the next cycle of ICC events will be held in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. They will definitely be keeping an eye on the players in these conditions.”Gambhir and Agarkar have endured constant criticism for all the bold calls they have taken over the past 18 months. It was very difficult to achieve this cultural shift in Indian cricket. Maybe it’s time to toughen up.
