Gautam Gambhir: The New Coach

Former Indian International cricketer, former Bharatiya Janata Party MP, and a Philanthropist as per source Gautam Gambhir The New Coach of the Indian Men’s Cricket Team. Gambhir has been widely reported to be the front-runner to replace Rahul Dravid as the next head coach when his tenure comes to an end after the 2024 T20 World Cup. According to reports Gautam Gambhir and WV Raman are the only two candidates who applied for this head coach position. 

The current coach Rahul Dravid stated as he will not reapply for this high-profile position this T20 World Cup 2024 will be his final assignment. A source has confirmed Gautam Gambhir: The New Coach for the Indian Men’s Cricket Team and VVS Laxman will take care of the U19 Indian Cricket Team.

After the T20 World Cup 2024, Team India will tour Zimbabwe for a five T20I series in July. India expected to rest their senior players, Gambhir will not travel with the Indian team to Zimbabwe. VVS Laxman will coach the team India for the upcoming Zimbabwe T20I series.

The BCCI announced India’s T20I squad for the series yesterday, Riyan Parag, Abhishek Sharma & Tushar Deshpande got their maiden chance in the India squad as per top performance from IPL 2024. Shubhman Gill will captain for this tour. 

Gautam will start his coaching tenures with team India’s upcoming white-ball tour of Sri Lanka next month, which includes three T20s and three ODIs.

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Personal Information 

Name – Gautam Deepak Gambhir

Born – 14 October 1981 ( age 42 )

Height – 1.67 m ( 5 ft 6 in )

Batting  – Left Hander

Bowling – Right-arm leg break 

Role – Top order batter 

Occupation – Cricketer, Commentator,Coach, Mentor, Politician ( Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha )

( 23 May 2019 – 04 June 2024 )

Awards – Arjuna Award ( 2008), ICC Test Player of the Year (2009),

Padma Shri ( 2019 )

Medal Record – 2011 ICC ODI Cricket World Cup ( Winner )

2007 ICC T20I Cricket World Cup ( Winner )

2010 ACC Asia Cup ( Winner )

Teams – India, Delhi, Delhi Daredevils, Essex, India Capitals

India Maharaja, Kolkata Knight Riders.

Gautam Gambhir was born into a Punjabi Hindu Khatri family in New Delhi. His father Deepak Gambhir manages a textile business and his mother is Seema Gambhir a housewife. Gambhir has a sister Ekta, who is two years younger than him. He started his cricket journey at the age of 10. He received his schooling from Modern School in New Delhi and later graduated from the Hindu College of the University of Delhi.

In October 2011, Gambhir married Natasha Jain, who belongs to a prominent business family. The couple have two daughters Aazeen Gambhir and Anaiza Gambhir.

Career Stats 

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International Career 

India’s Gautam Gambhir was the most complete batter, He is opening successfully in all formats for the team. He could be more aggressive than Virendra Sehwag & proper test cricket like Rahul Dravid and special VVS Laxman. He scored more than 10000 runs in international cricket with two outstanding, match-winning innings in the 2007 T20I World Cup final and the 2011 ODI World Cup final. 

Gambhir scored massive runs in domestic cricket, However, he was not selected for the 2007 ICC ODI World Cup as selectors named Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virendra Sehwag for the top order. After India’s exit from the first round of the tournament, Gambhir was selected for the ODI against Bangladesh tour 2007. He scored a century on that tour and then he was a regular member of Team India. 

Gambhir was selected for India’s squad for the 2007 T20I World Cup, in which India won the World Cup in South Africa. Gambhir scored 227 runs at an average of 37.83, including three half-centuries. He played a crucial knock of 75 runs in 54 balls in the final against Pakistan.  He was the leading run scorer from India and he was named in the Team of the Tournament for the 2007 T20I World Cup.

In the 2007-2008 CB series in Australia, he scored an unbeaten 102 at the Gabba against Sri Lanka, this match was washed out due to rain. After three weeks he scored 113 runs off 119 balls against Australia at Sydney. Team India won the CB series against Australia,  He finished leading run-scorer with 440 runs.

In 2008, Gambhir finally got a chance in a Test series in the Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. Gambhir scored 463 runs in the series. Also, he was a leading run scorer in the Test series against England in December 2008. For this performance in 2008, he was named in the World Test XI and ODI XI by ESPNCricinfo.

He was named as ICC Test Player of the Year for 2009 and was briefly ranked the No. 1 batsman in the ICC rankings in July 2009. In 2010, Gambhir was appointed as captain of Team India for the ODI series against New Zealand in India. He won the Man of the Series award as leading India to a 5-0 win. 

In the final 2011 ICC ODI Cricket World Cup, Gambhir scored an excellent knock of 97 of 122 balls. Virendra Sehwag was dismissed in the first over, he came and anchored the innings despite early dismissal of both openers. He had a good partnership with Virat Kohli, and later a match-winning partnership of 109 runs with Dhoni, MS. India won the ODI World Cup after 28 years.

Franchise Cricket

Gautam Gambhir was picked up by the Delhi Daredevils franchise in the first player auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a price of US $725,000 a year. He became the second-highest run scorer of the inaugural season with 534 runs from 14 matches. Later in the 2010 season, he was promoted as captain of Delhi Daredevils. 

In the 2011 IPL auction, Gambhir sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for $2.4 million. Under Gambhir’s captaincy, KKR qualified for playoffs and also made it to Champions League Twenty 20 for the first time. In the year 2012 he guided the KKR to their first IPL title defeating the defending champions Chennai Super Kings by 5 wickets at their home ground in Chennai.  He led the KKR to their second title in 2014 by beating Kings XI Punjab by 3 wickets. 

On 27 January 2018, in the 2018 IPL auction, he was bought by the Delhi Daredevils for 2.8 Crore and was appointed as captain of the side. Gambhir asked KKR to not retain him as he wanted to finish his IPL career where he started. Gautam Gambhir IPL experience in December 2021, new franchise Lucknow Supergiants approached Gautam Gambhir IPL mentor. He helped LSG to qualify for playoffs for both seasons. On 22 November 2023, IPL mentor of his former IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders for the 2024 season of IPL. KKR won IPL 2024 under captain Shreyas Iyar and Gautam Gambhir IPL mentor.

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Foundation

The Gautam Gambhir Foundation is the Philanthropic initiative of Gautam Gambhir. It was started in 2014 and based out of Delhi. He set up community kitchens in 2017 through the Foundations in Patel Nagar, Delhi, in a bid to make sure no one slept hungry in the city. The key project of the foundation is to reach out to as many children of paramilitary martyrs as possible and empower them by supporting their entire educational needs. 

Apart from this, the GGF works with adolescent girls from underprivileged homes in generating awareness on nutrition, health and hygiene, and an effort to make Delhi green by planting trees to fight air pollution in the city. In 2020, he announced a scheme to provide free meals to the needy in his constituency. The scheme, called “ Gambhir ki Rasoi ” aims to provide hot meals to people who are facing financial difficulties due to the COVID -19 pandemic.

Politics

On 22 March 2019, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad. He was the party’s candidate from East Delhi in the 2019 Indian general election. After his opponent Atishi Marlena challenged him to a debate, Gambhir declined the challenge, saying he doesn’t believe in “ Dharna and Debates”. Gautam won the elections by 695,109 votes against Atishi Marlena and Arvinder Singh Lovely.

Gambhir visited the Ghazipur landfill many times and has taken initiative regarding it. Gambhir also installed air purifiers in his constituency. Gambhir donated his two year salary as MP during the COVID -19 pandemic. Gambhir’s thorough foundation started the COVID -19 vaccination camps in his constituency. In Gambhir’s constituency Delhi BJP performed well in 2020 Delhi legislative elections and 2022 Delhi MCD elections. 

On 2 March 2024, he announced his departure from politics and Bharatiya Janata Party.

Conclusion

Gautam Gambhir’s story is a testament to the power of dedication, resilience and versatility. From his cricketing greatness to his political prominence, Gambhir has consistently demonstrated his ability to excel in multiple spheres and makes a lasting impact on the lives of others.

His unwavering commitment to public service, through both his cricket career and his political endeavors, has earned him the respect and administration of people across India. As Gambhir’s journey continues to unfold, it is clear that his legacy will be one that transcends the boundaries of sport and politics, inspiring generations to come.