‘Being pitted against my personal’

Indian head coach and former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir posted a cryptic message on how the reality about “unlimited authority” as a coach will change into clear, whereas responding to an image shared by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor with the previous cricketer, by which he referred to as Gambhir because the “man with the second hardest job after the Prime Minister”.

Taking to X, Tharoor had posted an image with Gambhir after assembly him at Nagpur, the place the primary T20I against New Zealand was held. In the submit, he wrote, “In Nagpur, enjoyed a good &frank discussion with my old friend @GautamGambhir, the man with the hardest job in India after the PM’s! He is being second-guessed by millions daily but stays calm & walks on undaunted. A word of appreciation for his quiet determination and able leadership. Wishing him all success — starting today! #INDvNZT20”

Gambhir, ever since taking on as India’s head coach in 2024, has been subjected to immense trolling and scrutiny from Indian cricket followers, who’ve usually questioned how a lot energy he has as a coach and the way in which he treats the veterans and rising stars in numerous methods.

To this, Gambhir replied, “Thanks a lot Dr @ShashiTharoor! When the dust settles, truth & logic about a coach’s supposedly “unlimited authority” will become clear. Till then I’m amused at being pitted against my own who are the very best!”

Thanks loads Dr @ShashiTharoor! When the mud settles, fact & logic a few coach’s supposedly “unlimited authority” will change into clear. Till then I’m amused at being pitted against my personal who’re the perfect! https://t.co/SDNzLt73v5

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) January 21, 2026

The point out of “truth and logic about coach’s supposed unlimited authority will become clear” raises query over the extent of energy Gambhir enjoys throughout the Indian cricket management set-up. Since the start of his tenure in 2024, questions have been raised over how a lot energy Gambhir has as a coach, and a number of other trolls on social media have accused him of misusing his energy in serving to the rise of gamers like Shubman Gill (as an all format famous person, chief) and pacer Harshit Rana (an important member of Kolkata Knight Riders’ IPL 2024 win), “mistreating” gamers like Rishabh Pant, Arshdeep Singh and Kuldeep Yadav in white-ball/Test cricket, and bringing in Morne Morkel and Ryan Ten Doeschate who have been a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) teaching set-ups of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), two franchises he mentored.

Also, whereas Gambhir didn’t point out anybody within the submit, the phrase, “I’m amused at being pitted against my own who are the very best!” may very well be a refined acknowledgement of how he’s taking discover of cricket followers talking out against him for allegedly attempting to sideline ODI-exclusive legends Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli earlier than the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup in favour of youthful expertise. Since his tenure started, a number of die-hard followers of Rohit and Virat have alleged {that a} rift exists between Gambhir and ‘Ro-Ko’, two of India’s largest famous person cricketers, largely resulting from GG’s vocal want to see famous person tradition finish in Indian cricket.

Gambhir’s tenure as a head coach has been marked by loads of ups and downs. In T20Is, he has loved immense success, profitable the Asia Cup and never dropping a sequence to date, making his staff favourites heading into the T20 World Cup ranging from February 7 onwards.

On the opposite hand, in Test cricket, he has seen success within the type of a hard-fought 2-2 sequence attract England underneath Shubman Gill’s captaincy with out legends Rohit, Virat and Ravichandran Ashwin and sequence wins over Bangladesh and West Indies at dwelling. But surrenders at dwelling to New Zealand in 2024 (first dwelling Test sequence loss after 12 years) and South Africa final 12 months, each of them being whitewashes, resulted in quite a lot of brickbats on-line.

In ODI cricket, his file has been combined. While he has gained the ICC Champions Trophy with Rohit Sharma as a captain final 12 months, he has additionally registered sequence losses away from dwelling to Sri Lanka and Australia and just lately at dwelling against New Zealand, giving the Kiwis their first ODI sequence win in India ever.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA workers and is printed from ANI)