‘Whatever is in the best interest of the team’: Gautam Gambhir’s candid take on Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir (X-BCCI) Gautam Gambhir’s bond with Rohit Sharma goes back much further than their time together in the current Indian coaching.Long before Gambhir became India’s head coach and Rohit led the national team, the two already shared a dressing room. Gambhir was an established senior player when Rohit joined the Indian team, which gave their relationship a familiarity that Gambhir believes made their later coach-captain equation different from the conventional one.Reflecting on the four Indian captains he worked with during his coaching tenure, Gambhir explained in an interview with JioStar that he and Rohit did not have to build their relationship from scratch when he became coach.“I don’t think so. You see, Rohit’s and my relationship was not just captain and coach. Rohit’s and my relationship, when Rohit came into the team, I was a senior player at that time. So Rohit’s and my relationship is from that time. Rohit knew me since then. It’s not like Rohit and I didn’t have a new relationship, not that I saw Rohit in person, not that Rohit came to play, or that Rohit plays in person, what kind of person he is,” Gambhir said.This history meant that Gambhir had already seen Rohit develop at various stages of his international career. Rohit, on the other hand, knew Gambhir as a senior India player long before Gambhir moved into the coaching role.According to Gambhir, this shared history can make it easier for the coach and captain to deal with situations where they don’t necessarily come to the same conclusion.“So often when you’ve played together, things are very easy. And actually he knows my mindset, I know his mindset. Because tomorrow I might have a different mindset, the captain might have a different mindset, but at the end, let it be in the best interest of the team, if it’s the last final decision, nothing can be better than this,” Gambhir said.Therefore, it is not crucial for Gambhir that the coach and the captain must always agree. There may be different perspectives, but understanding the other’s thinking can help ensure that those differences don’t become a distraction when the final decision needs to be made for the team.Rohit was the first of the four Indian captains Gambhir has served in his tenure so far. Suryakumar Yadav subsequently led the T20I side, while Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer also took over the captaincy duties.Despite the different leadership styles and personalities involved, Gambhir said he found one common thread among all the four captains.“And that’s why I said that with all four, regardless of which four captains I’ve worked with, I’ve had experience with them, that the intention of all of them was Indian cricket,” he said.Gambhir’s comments come at a time when the narrative about Rohit has changed considerably after the Lord’s ODIs in July.Ahead of this match, a media house had reported that the game could be the former India captain’s last and that he had been told that he was no longer part of the team’s World Cup plans.Rohit then produced an impressive 138 in the match. BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia subsequently came out strongly in support of the veteran.There have also been developments regarding the selection setup in India. TimesofIndia.com had earlier reported that Ajit Agarkar is less likely to get an extension, with Parthiv Patel appearing to be the front-runner for the chief selector position.Against this backdrop, Gambhir’s comments offer a glimpse of a long-term understanding between the two men, whose professional relationship has evolved from senior player and young cricketer to captain and coach.