Feisty, pugnacious and determined — Gambhir is all that and more Premium

Gautam Gambhir's transition from player to coach brings a new challenge with a legacy to uphold in Indian cricket.

In his prime, Gautam Gambhir batted as if he had a point to prove, not necessarily because he enjoyed the pursuit of runs. Make no mistake, he made runs — plenty of them, generally under pressure. He was India’s top scorer during its victories in the final of the T20 World Cup against Pakistan in 2007 and the 50-over World Cup against Sri Lanka in 2011, waged several in-the-trenches battle in Test cricket, most notably in Napier in 2009 and Cape Town in 2011 to secure face-saving draws, and tackled the meanest and the quickest without taking a backward step, the size of his heart in inverse proportion to his diminutive frame.

Feisty, pugnacious and determined were the words that came to mind when the left-hander was going about his business. Most left-handers fall in the elegant, graceful, aesthetically pleasing category. And while Gambhir was no Shivnarine Chanderpaul or Graeme Fowler, he most certainly wasn’t David Gower or Brian Lara. Gambhir was no-fuss, intent on getting the job done and not caring if he looked good doing so. It’s precisely this trait that should stand him in good stead as he embarks on a new, exciting challenge that should have far-reaching ramifications for Indian cricket.

Unlike the man he idolises and whose work ethic he tried to emulate, Gambhir takes charge of the Indian senior team with little to no previous coaching experience. Rahul Dravid’s succession of Ravi Shastri as the head coach in November 2021 was on the back of four years of coaching the India ‘A’ and Under-19 teams.

Gambhir has been a mentor to IPL franchises Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders, the defending champion, but he has neither a formal coaching certification nor the tenuous designation of a ‘coach’. That shouldn’t be a deterrent, just like it wasn’t with Shastri or with Anil Kumble, whose successful one-year stint at the helm was sandwiched between Shastri’s tenures as team director and head coach.

Gambhir has two and a half years, at least, as per the terms of his contract, to add greater gravitas to his already not-inconsiderable legacy. He might not have been as celebrated as his opening partner and one-time great friend Virender Sehwag, or Mahendra Singh Dhoni or Virat Kohli — we are not even treading into the Sachin Tendulkar-Dravid-V.V.S. Laxman territory — but he has built up a volume of work second to none.

He perhaps nurtures the grouse that he hasn’t got his due, but that’s how the cookie crumbles sometimes in professional sport, where glamour quotient counts for plenty and workmanlike efficiency is overlooked, almost taken for granted. Gambhir, and those who played alongside and against him, know the value he brought to the batting crease, the price he put on his wicket, the knocks he took on his body and limb, the bloody-mindedness with which he approached every innings.

Proud champions thrive in the respect of their colleagues and opponents, and while Gambhir the batter might have reason to believe he deserved a greater share of the collective limelight, he will take heart from the fact that oppositions knew they were in for a scrap — sometimes literally — when he marched out, bat in hand, helmet in place, heart bleeding for team and country.