Change of guard

If Gautam Gambhir, the newly appointed coach of the Indian cricket team, sets his mind to it, he could be the frontrunner to become the next Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.

The late Jhunjhunwala,  known as the “Big Bull,” had famously invested in Titan Company in 2003 when it was just a penny stock. Like most of his diverse investments, this purchase was not based on research or a tip-off. It was governed purely 

by instincts.

Like the billionaire investor, Gambhir, the tenacious former opener-turned-coach, also seems to be governed by instincts while picking unheralded players and turning them into match-winners.

During Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR’s) emphatic title-winning march at the Indian Premier League (IPL) this season, Gambhir as the franchise mentor, hedged his bets on two players — a relatively obscure all-rounder named Ramandeep Singh, and Sunil Narine, the mystery spinner from the Caribbean islands considered to be past his prime.

Singh, entrusted with the role of the finisher, walloped crucial runs at the lower middle-order. Narine, known to bamboozle batters through spin and guile, would turn into a prolific opener, providing blistering starts for KKR.

Without fancy analysis and number-crunching, but through frank, candid conversations and by providing clarity, Gambhir turned these penny stock cricketers into blue-chip stocks. Delhi cricketers who have played under him in Ranji Trophy assert that Gambhir is not the sort of a person to get swayed by a player’s reputation. It comes from his deep-rooted insecurities as an international cricketer.

“If I don’t score runs in two or three games, I start getting the feeling that I’m going to get dropped,” he had said.
 

As the KKR mentor, he believed in giving players a long, sustained and an uninterrupted run.   

As the youngest India head coach, Gambhir, 42, will bring with him this rare quality to the dressing room. He will also bring searing intensity, ultra-competitive and hyper nationalistic vibes. Gambhir takes over from Rahul Dravid at a time when the team is riding high on the euphoric success of the T20 World Cup win.

The team is also well on course to their third consecutive World Test Championship final next year. As he takes guard, Gambhir will have to navigate through a tricky transition phase in Indian cricket with the retirements of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja from T20Is.

A bevy of other stars like R Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara and Mohammed Shami are also nearing the end of their long and fruitful international careers.
 

Gambhir’s three-and-a-half-year tenure begins with the limited overs series in Sri Lanka later this month.

But there could be potential speed bumps along the way. Taking charge of a national team replete with superstars is inherently different from that of leading an IPL franchise, which comprises players from different nationalities. Managing their egos will be as important as helping youngsters fine-tune their skills.
 

In the past, Gambhir was involved in much-publicised, TRP-generating on-field scuffles with a certain star player from West Delhi (read Virat Kohli). In the days ahead, there will be considerable interest in how the dressing room equation evolves between Gambhir and Kohli.

Gambhir cares less about the superstar system, which he believes has distorted the country’s cricketing ecosystem. His challenge will lie in the ability to view these superstars with the same lens as some of the less celebrated ones, while maintaining a healthy dressing room ambience.
 

As a player, Gambhir was not the most talented, nor did he possess strokes of geometric precision like Dravid, his predecessor.

Nevertheless, by notching up the highest scores — 97 in 2011 World Cup and 75 in T20 World Cup in 2007 — in a winning cause in the finals, he has set a template for his batters 

to emulate.

The highest run-scorer in India’s two World Cup wins could turn out to be the big brother to his teammates. Someone who can put an arm around a player and have honest conversations.
 

Perhaps, therein lies Gambhir’s biggest strength, the ability to systematically puncture the star system and turn it into a cohesive unit of free-spirited individuals.
 

Gambhir is not the coach the Indian team deserves, but the coach they need.