As Gautam Gambhir completed 2 years of tenure as the India head coach, former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif who is also working with Cricbuzz was asked to rate the former India opener’s performance at the helm. The answer given by him has shocked some of the fans. Mohammad Kaif did not mince his words, saying that he would rate him just 4/10. Giving the reason for this, Kaif said that Gambhir needed to be more transparent with senior players like Virat Kohli.
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Kaif said “I’ll reduce some numbers. I’ll give him 4 out of 10. I’ll tell you why. There are recent reports which points out that Gambhir and Kohli are not seeing eye to eye. We have seen Gambhir interacting with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. This is one problem. The job of the coach and the management is to maintain transparency and to initiate communication. They should keep everyone on the same page. Winning and losing will be on the ground. But the reasons behind them, like if a player is dropped, tell them why so that the player is not in doubt,”
Gautam Gambhir's record with India team
Kaif doubled down on his point that India will need their senior players and the coach on the same page if they are to succeed overseas. He said “Now, if Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir are not working together, this is not a good sign for India. If they are not in the same page, this is bad news for Indian fans. Because in this England tour, we are focussing on the 2017 World Cup. It won’t be easy to win in overseas conditions so you have to maintain unity in the team. Senior players have a very big role. You need to go to the senior players’ room and talk to them on how you can fix the problem. This is the job of a coach,”
Gautam Gambhir took over the role as the Indian head in 2024 when he succeeded Rahul Dravid at the helm. In his two years, India has gone through numerous highs and lows under him. When it comes to the white ball cricket, Gambhir managed good results with India winning the 2025 Champions Trophy, the 2026 T20 World Cup as well as the 2025 Asia Cup. But in red ball cricket, India suffered a BGT loss as well as got white washed by New Zealand and South Africa at home. Senior players also retired from the Test format following the losses. It will be interesting to see how Gambhir takes up the challenges that India are set to face.
