New India head coach Gautam Gambhir has lauded Suryakumar Yadav’s leadership, stating that the captain’s free-spirited nature perfectly aligns with the ethos of T20 cricket. Gambhir emphasized his role is to provide fair advice to Suryakumar, recognizing the team ultimately belongs to the captain. Since Gambhir took charge post the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup, the Suryakumar-Gambhir partnership has been highly successful, elevating India’s batting tempo and leading to consistent series wins, including the recent T20 Asia Cup in the UAE. Their next challenge is a five-match T20I series in Australia, commencing soon.
“Surya is a great human being, and good humans make good leaders,” Gambhir remarked. He elaborated on his supportive role, stating, “My role is simply to advise him fairly based on my reading of the game. Ultimately, this is his team.” Gambhir believes Suryakumar’s personality reflects positively on the field and within the dressing room, a dynamic he has maintained excellently for the past 1.5 years.
The coach highlighted that India’s T20I strategy under Suryakumar prioritizes embracing risk, particularly in high-pressure situations. “From our first conversation, we agreed: we will not fear losing,” Gambhir stated. “I don’t aim to be the most successful coach; I want us to be the most fearless team.” This philosophy extends to accepting mistakes, with Gambhir reassuring players that occasional errors like dropped catches or missed shots are acceptable when pursuing a fearless brand of cricket.
Despite Suryakumar Yadav’s inconsistent batting form in the recent Asia Cup, Gambhir expressed no significant concern. He reiterated the team’s commitment to an ‘ultra-aggressive template,’ acknowledging that failures are an inherent part of such a high-risk, high-reward approach. “It would be easy for Surya to score 40 runs off 30 balls and avoid criticism, but we have collectively decided that it’s acceptable to fail while pursuing this approach,” Gambhir explained. He noted that while Suryakumar finds his form, players like Abhishek Sharma are currently in excellent batting form. Gambhir concluded by emphasizing that in T20 cricket, the focus is on the ‘brand of cricket’ played, and impact often outweighs individual scores in their aggressive strategy.