India's World Cup Winning Captain Lashes Out at Gautam Gambhir

Former India captain Kapil Dev has lashed out at current Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir amid the team’s poor struggle. He said that coach is not the right word to be used with him as Gambhir can be the manager of the team.

Indian Cricket Team head coach Gautam Gambhir has been under a massive scanner for his poor coaching. Although the team has been decent in white-ball cricket, the bar has dropped in the Tests, which has become a major point of concern for the team.

Under Gautam Gambhir, India faced two whitewashes at home in the last year. Last year, they faced a humiliating 3-0 loss against New Zealand, which cost them a place in the ICC World Test Championship 2025 final.

Recently, they were thrashed 0-2 by South Africa. After that, Gambhir came under massive scanner, especially for not allowing the batters to settle at a particular spot. Under him, India’s batting order has been in turmoil with no one having a fixed batting number.

Kapil Dev Comment on Gautam Gambhir

Legendary India captain Kapil Dev, who is regarded as one of the best all-rounders in the world, went harsh at Gautam Gambhir, saying that he cannot be a coach, saying that ‘manager is the right word for him. Digging deep into his debate, he said that Gambhir cannot be a coach to a leg spinner or to a wicket-keeper.

“Today that word called a coach… ‘coach’ is a very common word today. Gautam Gambhir can’t be a coach. He can be a manager of the team. When you say coach, coach is where I learn in school and college. Those were the people, my coach was there. They can manage me,” said Kapil Dev on Gambhir.

"I think you have to manage. That’s more important. As a manager, you give them encouragement to say you can do it because when you become a manager, the young boys look up to you,” he said. "How can you be a coach when they have given a name to let’s say anybody a leg spinner? How can Gautam be a coach to a leg spinner or to the wicket-keeper?” he added.

Gautam Gambhir’s Next Major Assignment

Gautam Gambhir’s next major assignment will be the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 and a lot related to his coaching future will depend on the same. He would be keen to take the team to glory in an event, where India will play the best cricket teams in the world at home. Under Gautam Gambhir coaching tenure, India won the Asia Cup 2025 but since then, things have changed.

India look a bit unsettled with the batting order again being the issue along with some out-of-form players despite having some of the dangerous batsmen in the world.. It remains to be seen how Gambhir can rectify these errors and take the team to glory. After the ongoing South Africa series, India will have only New Zealand series to prepare for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026.