Former India national cricket team batsman S Badrinath has questioned Gautam Gambhir’s commitment to Team India after the head coach and his support staff decided not to travel with the team for the upcoming Zimbabwe T20 series and Asian Games.
S Badrinath argued that the coaching staff had already received adequate rest during the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 and should have been available for all India’s international assignments.
Gautam Gambhir will not participate in Zimbabwe tour and Asian Games
After their poor performance in the India, England T20I series in which they lost 4-0 in the series, the T20I team will tour Zimbabwe for a three-match T20I series against Chevron and then the Asian Games.
Both the teams have been announced and the tour of Zimbabwe is scheduled from June 23 to June 26. The 2026 Asian Games will be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, and the cricket competition will take place over two weeks in September, with the schedule yet to be decided.
Gautam Gambhir and his support staff will not be available for these events; VVS Laxman, the current head of cricket at the BCCI Center of Excellence (CoE), will oversee these two tours for the Men in Blue as he has been appointed head coach for the upcoming assignments.
Apart from VVS Laxman, Sunil Joshi and Hrishikesh Kanitkar will be the bowling and batting coaches respectively.
S Badrinath criticizes Gautam Gambhir for not attending Zimbabwe tour, Asian Games
Speaking on YouTube channel, S Badrinath has raised questions on Gambhir and his coaching team for taking leave after getting rest during IPL 2026.
Badrinath said, “Even Gautam Gambhir and his support staff are being rested for the Zimbabwe series after VVS Laxman took charge. I don’t understand this, because they were rested for just two months during the IPL. They were only on duty for the Ireland and England series.”
S Badrinath criticizes India’s selection strategy for Sanju Samson, Vaibhav Suryavanshi
S Badrinath also questioned Gautam Gambhir’s poor selection strategy of first dropping Sanju Samson for Vaibhav Suryavanshi and then recalling him after the 15-year-old was unable to score well in just three matches.
The former CSK star claims that this move by the support staff led by Gautam Gambhir would have created a lot of insecurity inside the Indian dressing room.
Badrinath said, “They dropped Samson after three failures and brought in Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Then Suryavanshi is treated the same and you bring Samson back. By doing this, you have given complete confidence to neither Sanju nor Suryavanshi. No one knows whether Samson or Suryavanshi are sure in the team or not. This way a lot of insecurities are created and it is difficult for the players to perform in this environment. Is.”
“Suryavanshi was almost in tears after being dropped from the last T20. It was difficult to look at his face. Some of the selections are baffling the management. Samson is there for the Asian Games. So why is he not there just for the Zimbabwe series? It is clear that the Indian team is struggling without these two. This T20 team looks completely different without them.”
