Champions Trophy 2025: Feather in The Cap For Team India Head Coach Gautam Gambhir | Opinion

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Success has many fathers and failure none. Cliched as it may sound, coach Gautam Gambhir can pat himself on the back for a job well done as he guided Team India to the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai on Sunday (March 9) night.

Reactions to Gambhir and his role have been mixed. Yet, even his worst critics, this writer included, will agree Gambhir has played a big role in India winning the ODI big prize.

When Gambhir took over last July, there was turbulence, in every sense. And when the Indian team fared miserably in the Border Gavaskar Trophy Test Series in Australia, all kinds of stories broke out in media. They said, Gambhir wanted to see the back of Rohit Sharma as captain.

One more conspiracy theory hinted Gambhir wanted to put Virat Kohli as stand-in Test skipper since Jasprit Bumrah had got injured. Boom is still injured, though what is the state of his back is being guarded like a State secret.

Back to Gambhir, one press conference where he spoke out well, and on the front foot, to borrow a batting term, was when he defended skipper Rohit. Gambhir was spot on when he said the coaching staff and the BCCI does not look at Rohit Sharma from the prism of runs, stats and what he does.

Gambhir had made it clear, Rohit leads from the front. The same thing was endorsed by DK - Dinesh Karthik - on air, as well, in Sky Sports. The consensus is, Hitman steps up and performs. He leads by example.

Well, the whirlwind knock which he produced on Sunday (March 9) knocked the wind out of the Kiwi sails. At the same time, it was clear, Rohit was going to take charge and lead from the front. His captaincy is top class.

From beyond the boundary, it is easy to say batting second was not tough on a worn-out surface. Obviously, Gambhir, his staff and the leaders in Team India have been planning and plotting. There was synergy on view in the field, which has come out from brainstorming sessions held in the dressing room, hotels and at practice sessions.

For those who have practiced crap, sensational journalism, which the world knows today, images of Gambhir with Rohit, Kohli and a few more players close to the pitch on the eve of the match was described as 'retirement plan' discussion!

Where did this come from, all speculation and so murky, nobody knows. Well, Rohit Sharma hit the ball out of the park at the press conference when he said he was not retiring and it's going to be status quo. It is good the way things have played out shows the Indian team bonding strongly.

It will be time for the IPL 2025 and players will be with different franchises. Then begins the planning for the tough Test series in England. Surely, Gambhir, Ajit Agarkar and the seniors will discuss what to do and plan the course forward.

Gambhir will be watching the IPL purely as an observer. He will make his notes and also ensure the comeback of fast bowler Bumrah is planned well. After all, in England, Bumrah will be a key bowler. Conditions in England will be very different than Dubai. Pace and swing will be important where Bumrah will be needed, fully fit.

To see Gambhir smile, finally, was a great sight. After the match, Navjot Sidhu was trying to force Gambhir to break into a bhangra jig. As expected, Gambhir smiled and refused, though he did extract a 'shayari' out of Sherry.