Gautam Gambhir (not pictured) Despite his great success as both an international cricketer and a head coach, Gautam Gambhir has come under heavy criticism from former Indian cricketer Atul Wassan, who accused him of being a “bully” in the team environment.Gambhir took over as the head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team on 10 July 2024, replacing Rahul Dravid. His tenure so far has produced mixed results. Under his leadership, India achieved historic dominance in white-ball cricket by becoming the first team to hold the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and Asia Cup 2025 titles simultaneously.However, India’s test performances declined sharply during the same period. The team suffered rare home series fades against the New Zealand national cricket team and the South Africa national cricket team, while also losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to the Australian national cricket team for the first time in a decade.
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Shikhar Dhawan on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, life after retirement and moreDespite setbacks in red-ball cricket, the Board of Control for Cricket in India is said to have long-term support for Gambhir and is in discussions to extend his contract beyond the 2027 ODI World Cup and potentially through the 2028 T20 World Cup and the Los Angeles Olympics.In an interview with Vicky Lalwani, Wassan launched into a scathing assessment of Gambhir’s personality and management style, claiming that his aggressive approach dates back to his early cricketing days in Delhi.“I knew him personally since childhood. I had my issues with him. It’s my way or the highway with him. He’s like that and he would bully a lot, even in Delhi cricket,” Wassan said.“His character is like that, right from the start. He came from money, an excellent player and he’s intelligent. His ego is on another level. He thinks if he says it’s night when it’s morning, it will be believed to be night. Fall in line. If you don’t fall in line, you’re on my hit list. He’ll try to hurt you, but he’s helped him a lot in cricket,” he added, and he’s helped him a lot.Wassan further suggested that Gambhir’s confrontational personality was a key factor in his success as a player, but doubted whether the same attitude still worked in the coaching role.“The player he became is his character. He couldn’t be at his best unless he was fighting. He probably goes and fights with a window in his house. But he didn’t realize when to get off that horse, now that he’s retired, that’s why he’s facing Virat Kohli: too much aggression and an alpha-male personality from Delhi,” claimed Wassan.
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The former Indian cricketer also claimed that not everyone in the Indian dressing room is comfortable with Gambhir’s strict approach.“I’m sure all the players can’t be in a very happy place. Someone will be sleeping on pins and needles. That happens, personal likes and dislikes, and the same with such a strong personality. With personal likes and dislikes and the management is a stick, if you keep winning then it’s fine. But if you lose, you have to listen to the criticism,” he said.Although Wassan hinted that some Indian players are unhappy with the current environment, he refused to reveal any names publicly.“I know one or two of them; they won’t say it openly. I can’t say their names on this show. Everyone knows what’s going on. But if you take those players out, when you win, it’s your world. It’s a team sport, nobody’s going to listen to the player. If the coach wins after all that, then the coach is right and the player is wrong,” concluded Wassan.
