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Gautam Gambhir To Travel With India A Team For England Tour: Reports

Rajgeeta Yadav

Gautam Gambhir To Travel With India A [Source: @HrideepRanjan/X.com]Gautam Gambhir To Travel With India A [Source: @HrideepRanjan/X.com]

India’s head coach, Gautam Gambhir, is set to take on a new challenge by traveling with the India A team ahead of the senior team’s tour of England in June. This move makes him the first-ever head coach of the senior team to accompany the A team on an overseas tour. Gambhir wants to get involved early and closely analyze the upcoming talent in Indian cricket.

Gautam Gambir Wants To Travel With Team India A 

Once the ICC Champions Trophy ends, Indian players will split up and join their IPL teams for the two-month-long tournament. Normally, India A and U19 teams are coached by the National Cricket Academy (NCA) staff, with former cricketers like Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman handling these roles in the past. However, Gambhir wants to change this trend and has already informed the BCCI about his decision.

Neither Rahul Dravid nor Ravi Shastri, the previous head coaches, ever traveled with the India A team. This makes Gambhir’s decision unique. However, it is still uncertain whether he will join the team as a mentor, coach, or just an observer.

A BCCI source confirmed that Gambhir has been discussing this idea with the board since his return from Australia.

"Gambhir has been in talks with the board. He wants to travel with the India A team to get a clearer picture of the talent pool," the source said.

Gautam Gambhir Vision For T20I and ODI Teams

Gambhir’s influence in team selection has already been seen in the Champions Trophy victory, where he backed some wild-card players who made a big impact. Moving forward, he is expected to play an even bigger role in shaping the team.

The 43-year-old legend has been pushing for a separate T20 team, selected purely based on current form, rather than mixing players between the ODI and T20I formats. He believes that keeping the squads separate will bring more clarity to India’s white-ball cricket strategy.

India are set to play 24 ODIs before the next World Cup, and Gambhir wants to finalise the core squad as soon as possible. There are also ongoing discussions about whether Rohit Sharma will continue as captain until the World Cup in October.

Looking ahead to the T20 World Cup in 2026, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, Gambhir sees IPL 2025 as a crucial selection platform for picking the best T20 players.