Newly appointed head coach of the Sri Lanka national cricket team, Gary Kirsten was extremely impressed and supported India national cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir’s philosophy of eliminating “superstar culture” within teams.
Gambhir has always been vocal about the team culture, and now he has the strong support of his former head coach, who helped India win the 2011 ODI World Cup on home soil. His philosophy gained more attention after the Indian cricket team’s transition to T20I cricket.
Gautam Gambhir brings major cultural changes in Indian cricket
Following the retirement of two of India’s biggest icons, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, after the T20 World Cup 2024, many believed that the teams would struggle. But the young group surprised everyone under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav and Gambhir by defending the title in the T20 World Cup 2026 and becoming the first team to win the tournament thrice.
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Since becoming India’s head coach after succeeding Rahul Dravid, Gambhir has strongly emphasized on a team-first culture. Several changes were made after India’s defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Australia. The Indian head coach has focused on discipline, equal responsibility and reducing the influence of individual star power in the dressing room.
He is absolutely right: Gary Kirsten supports Gautam Gambhir’s philosophy
Now, after taking up the new job with the Islanders, Gary Kirsten believes there is enough talent and depth in modern Indian cricket to move away from relying on a few big players. The legendary South African cricketer has emphasized that the system now produces so many quality cricketers that the team no longer has to depend on just two or three superstars.
Gary Kirsten was quoted by Wisden Cricket as saying, “I think he’s absolutely right. I think India was largely driven around the superstardom status of each individual, and I think there was also a huge commercial entity in it. I think the IPL has brought a different dynamic there. I mean, when I was with the Namibians (as a consultant on the T20 World Cup 2026), we were at the Center of Excellence in Bengaluru There were, and it is the most impressive cricket facility I have seen anywhere.”
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Gary Kirsten praises India’s incredible bench strength
Gary Kirsten lauded India’s depth which was clearly visible during the warm-up match ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026 clash. India A team, led by Ayush Badoni, dominated the Namibian national cricket team in Bengaluru. Thanks to Riyan Parag’s brilliant half-century, India A made a big score of close to 200 runs.
Naman Dheer and Ashutosh Sharma also made valuable contributions. In reply, Namibia collapsed and were bowled out cheaply for only 60 runs, revealing the huge difference in depth between the two teams.
Kirsten further added, “We played against an India A regional team (during T20 World Cup 2026 practice) which had IPL players, but we probably got out for 60, and there is just so much depth in the system in India. So, it completely makes sense that it is no longer necessary to make the entire game dependent on two or three guys.”
