Former India opener and Gautam Gambhir’s teammate Wasim Jaffer suggested that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) consider split coaching in view of the increasing international schedules involving the Indian national cricket team.
Amidst a busy schedule throughout the year, Gautam Gambhir serves the Indian cricket team in all three formats as the head coach. With back-to-back tours, traveling due to ICC and other series and matches, Gautam Gambhir has a heavy workload.
Gautam Gambhir’s test record as India’s head coach is not good
Gautam Gambhir’s performance as a coach may be affected due to increase in workload. Gautam Gambhir has had good success in white-ball formats; The team’s performance in tests is not satisfactory.
Under the coaching of the former India opener, the Men in Blue won the 2025 Champions Trophy and 2026 T20 World Cup titles in the ODI format. In the longest format, the Gambhir-coached Men in Blue have won only six of their 18 Tests, lost 10 and drawn two.
Wasim Jaffer explains why BCCI should consider split coaching principle
Speaking on his official YouTube channel, Wasim Jaffer mentioned that, as the game is evolving at a fast pace with a lot of emerging talent, it has become very challenging for a head coach to serve the team in all three formats. Therefore, considering the modern nature of the game, the former cricketer shows his faith in the split coaching principle.
“I think, moving forward, we’ll start to see these things happen more frequently. A lot of players come and go, formats change frequently, and there’s very little time to settle in. So, in my opinion, it makes sense. Whether or not it actually happens remains to be seen. Typically, decisions like this are made when teams are losing. When you’re winning, neither the players nor, obviously, the support staff get changed much Are,” Wasim Jaffer said in his video.
The upcoming test series will be an acid test for the Indian cricket team.
In the same video, Jaffer further mentioned that India’s upcoming Test matches against Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Australia could be decisive in shaping the future of the team. Currently, Team India is ranked fifth in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) points table, if the team wants to qualify for the final of the championship then it will have to win most of the upcoming matches.
Wasim Jaffer said, “The upcoming series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Australia is huge. I think it will be a real testing period because, as far as I know, we need to win about 90% of our remaining matches to qualify for the World Test Championship final. It will be a tough test for both the players and the coaching staff.”
“I don’t think Sri Lanka will be that difficult for the Indian team. India should be able to beat Sri Lanka, but the series against New Zealand and Australia will be the real test,” he said.
