Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill having a chat (Source: AFP Photos)
There comes a point where “thinking differently” stops being tactical daring and starts becoming pure, self-inflicted sabotage. Team India's current head coach Gautam Gambhir has officially crossed that threshold. What he tries to project as innovation is now nothing more than a compulsive need to be unconventional for the sake of appearing smarter than everyone else, even when it burns the team repeatedly.
And somehow, it is always the Indian players who pay the price for his experiments, not the man who designs them.
No Kohli-Rohit left to absorb the blame
The 3–0 humiliation against New Zealand at home in 2024 should have been the end of the fantasy. India were not just beaten, they were dismantled across all games, plans, and conditions. And instead of introspection, Gambhir slipped in behind the failures of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, letting their off-series carry the weight of the criticism.
That shield does not exist anymore. They are retired. There is no superstar barricade protecting him from accountability. So now what? Now, every questionable plan puts the spotlight right on the person behind it.
Still no lessons learnt after New Zealand debacle
And then came the Eden Gardens Test against South Africa, yet another chapter in Gambhir’s ego-first, logic-last era. India did not need a risky track. They did not need another “watch how different I can be” moment.
They needed stability, awareness of their own limitations, and a surface that complements the strengths of a transitioning young batting lineup. Instead, Gambhir and co doubled down on dry, uneven spin-friendly conditions despite knowing this team is shaky against any half-decent spin, let alone last year’s trauma still fresh.
Moreover, India played four spinners for the first time since the 2012 Nagpur Test, a nightmare Indian fans still cannot forget, and they skipped a natural number three in Sai Sudharsan, further highlighting Gambhir’s clueless “smartness.” This is not the confident 2016 India where prime Kohli and his men could dig them out of anything.
This is a vulnerable, reshaped batting order still learning to make their own place. And yet Gambhir hands the opposition’s visiting spinners, who are not at all familiar to play in Indian conditions, an unexpected lifeline and throws his own batters straight into a storm.
The result? Predictable collapse. Predictable chaos. Predictable headlines about India being undone by their own pitch, again. All because the coach wants to present himself as a genius outsider capable of reinventing the wheel every series.
Ego over logic, every single time
This is not strategic bravery. It is stubborn fixation. Gambhir wants to win his way, even if his way does not suit the players, the conditions, or the moment. His plans seem designed not to help India win but to make him look visionary if they miraculously work.
But let me ask you, why does he insist on doing this to an in-form batting lineup? A lineup that went toe-to-toe with England away earlier this year, and one that convincingly defeated West Indies at home just last month. What exactly is he trying to “fix” in a unit that has shown fight, resilience, and form?
Our spinners or even pacers like Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are always going to be a better long-term bet against any opposition on any pitch that lasts five days. So why force this reckless approach? What is Gambhir trying to prove and to whom?
And then he goes to the media and says, “This is exactly the pitch we were looking for,” casually shifting the entire blame onto the players. How long are we supposed to tolerate this denial? How long do we let him hide behind excuses while the Indian Test legacy at home, one of the sport’s strongest fortresses, is reduced to rubble under his watch?
The players deserved better
Indian cricket deserves a coach who understands the squad, not one who constantly seeks to prove a point through needless risk. These players deserve a fair platform, not pitches and tactics engineered to validate someone’s ego.
This era? An absolute shambles, entirely self-inflicted, completely avoidable, and rapidly unraveling. And if this is the thought process, the philosophy, the stubbornness dictating India’s direction, then perhaps this result is exactly what we are going to see even more often.
 (1).jpg?type=mq "Venky Mysore gets slammed")
