Basit Ali has shown pessimism about Gautam Gambhir succeeding as Indian team head coach stating his anger issues and hotheadedness. Basit said this after Gautam Gambhir was appointed to replace Rahul Dravid as the new India head coach.
As India’s coach, Rahul Dravid produced respectable results, guiding the team to the 2022 T20 World Cup semifinal, the 2023 World Cup final, the WTC and ODI World Cup, and the 2024 T20 World Cup victory. He won the players’ respect and established a positive atmosphere in the locker room.
Gautam Gambhir has no experience of coaching a team, but was the mentor of Lucknow Super Giants in two IPL seasons and most recently, guided Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL 2024 trophy.
Will Gautam Gambhir be able to become a father figure like Rahul Dravid?
It will be difficult for Gautam Gambhir to achieve the status of Rahul Dravid, according to former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali, who was like a father figure to the Indian squad. Despite his impressive IPL performance with KKR, Basit Ali stated that Gambhir harbors some animosity and may struggle in his new role as India’s coach.
“Will Gautam Gambhir be able to become a father figure like Rahul Dravid? If you ask me at this time, I would say no. Because he has anger which Rahul Dravid does not have. Gautam Gambhir’s real test will begin. Will Gambhir be able to carry forward the atmosphere created by Dravid in Australia? This is the biggest question for me,” Basit Ali said on his YouTube channel.
Basit further said that Gautam Gambhir will not be challenged in the upcoming series against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and his biggest test as India coach will be the tour of Australia in November.
Basit Ali also spoke on the relationship between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, given that they had almost come to blows one year ago during the IPL 2023. While they hugged and made up with one another, Basit Ali feels this might or might not affect the team.
He made his case and used Hardik Pandya as an example during this. Ali claimed that Hardik received a lot of criticism while he was an IPL player for the Mumbai Indians. But that all changed when he represented India in the Twenty20 World Cup. Things shifted.
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