Gautam Gambhir Head Coach of India during the 1st T20I match between Australia and India at Manuka Oval, Canberra, Australia, on October 29, 2025. (CREIMAS for BCCI)
With hosts India looking to defend their World T20 crown in next month’s T20 World Cup, it will also be the first time that coach Gautam Gambhir will be overusing the Indian team in a World Cup. While the Indian team lost the recent ODI series against New Zealand apart from losing the two test match series against South Africa 0-2 in recent months, Gambhir had also seen the Indian team winning the Champions Trophy as well Asia Cup last year. Former Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary believes that if Gautam Gambit fails to guide the Indian team to defend the T20 World Cup title, the BCCI should take the ‘big and difficult’ decision to remove Gambhir.
“If Gautam Gambhir fails to win the T20 World Cup 2026, then the BCCI should take a big and difficult decision. The BCCI secretary has said that we will pursue with Gambhir till his contract expires. But if the T20 World Cup 2026 doesn’t give a result to Gambhir, I think the BCCI will take a big call and will remove him,” Tiwary said in an interview with InsideSport.
In 2025, the Indian T20 team under Gautam Gambhir had won 16 T20I matches with three losses. This year has seen India winning the three T20Is in the ongoing five-match T20I series against New Zealand. Gambhir had taken the role of Indian head coach in all formats post the departure of Rahul Dravid, whose term ended post the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup. Tiwary shared how BCCI can appoint former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman if they sack Gautam Gambhir. “It has to be a process-driven thing. When Rahul Dravid was India’s coach and if he used to miss any series, the natural choice was VVS Laxman. Laxman, being the head coach, has always had a good winning percentage. In my opinion, the BCCI should convince him because he is a level-headed guy and he is a very good human being as well. He has the coaching experience as well,” Tiwary added.
Earlier this month, India had lost a home ODI series against New Zealand for the first time in over three decades with the team losing the ODI series 1-2. Last year, BCCI had replaced Rohit Sharma as ODI captain with Shubman Gill. Earlier Tiwary had also questioned the BCCI’s move to remove Sharma from ODI captaincy. “What was the need to remove Rohit Sharma from the captaincy? I’m pretty sure that if Rohit were leading even today in the ODIs, it would have been a different result (New Zealand series) altogether. Because when he won the Champions Trophy, I think the team was going forward in the right direction,” Tiwary had told InsideSport earlier this month.
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