TimesofIndia.com in Dubai: India head coach Gautam Gambhir is in your face, never shies away from speaking his mind over selections and decisions, hardly dodges a question during media interactions and always has the game face on. He celebrates a critical moment as animatedly as a player and that burning desire to win a cricket match is so evident even when he is comfortably seated outside the dressing room. The winning mentality which he proudly carried on his sleeve during playing days – international, domestic and IPL – has continued even from the other side of the boundary rope. While such behaviour could be termed eccentric, it is how he has always approached the game.
Two World Cup titles, three IPL titles (two as player and one as mentor) and Gambhir is now just one win away from adding a maiden ICC title to his coaching CV. The title which eluded even some of his celebrated predecessors. In sport you either win or lose but for Gambhir it’s about winning, and only that. The results haven’t gone his way in the recent Test assignments and the tumultuous period did raise questions about his approach but even when the heat came his way, he continued to respond with fire.
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There is rarely that sense of satisfaction even when the team is doing well and it wasn’t a surprise when he said they are yet to play a perfect game in the Champions Trophy. The Men in Blue are unbeaten but Gambhir still sees room for improvement and wants to create that environment in the dressing room too.
“See, in international sport, you want to keep improving. You don’t say that you’ve ticked all the boxes. There’s always room to improve. There’s always something to improve, be it in batting, fielding, or bowling. And we still haven’t played a perfect game. We still have one more game to go. Hopefully we can play a perfect game. And that is the kind of person I am.
“I will never be satisfied with the performances. We want to keep improving, we want to stay humble, we want to be ruthless on the cricket field but absolutely humble off the field as well. That’s the kind of team environment and that’s the kind of culture we want to create in that dressing room and be absolutely honest. So hopefully we can play one more game and play our best game,” said the head coach when asked about India’s run.
For the 43-year-old, cricket is all about playing out of your comfort zone and some calls have repeatedly pointed in that direction. India had a successful 2023 ODI World Cup campaign where KL Rahul batted at No.5, and did well. The current managemenet, however, pushed the right-hander down to No. 6 in order to accomodate Axar Patel at No. 5. They felt a left-hander, who is capable of injecting some urgency during that period, was more suited for the role.
Pushing players out of their comfort zone doesn’t mean throwing them in the deep end only to see them fail and get dropped. It comes with a lot of public backing even when the results don’t come and it has been evident the way the management has continued to put their weight behind Rahul, who, by his own admission, has Rishabh Pant breathing down his neck.
“I think cricket is all about being out of your comfort zone. In fact, forget about cricket, any international sport is about being out of your comfort zone and that is how you grow. That is how you want to grow as well. If everyone is in their comfort zone, then there is stagnation. So, I believe, and you’ve seen the results, I know you guys will keep going back to 3-0 or 3-1 in Australia, but everyone in the dressing room is staying out of the comfort zone be it the coaching staff be it the players and hopefully we continue to do what is important for Indian cricket and we can take Indian cricket forward,” explained Gambhir.
When the team wins, every call becomes a masterstroke, every tactic is applauded, insecurities take a backseat and the dressing room becomes the happiest place to be in. “A happy dressing is a winning dressing room,” is something the head coach swears by and his winning mentality is keeping the side on that track.