Former England spinner Monty Panesar has been busy commentating on Indian cricket recently and according to him, Gautam Gambhir lacks the required experience to train in all three formats. These comments came following Gambhir’s poor form in red-ball cricket.
Panesar has named former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh as the assistant and batting coach for the Indian team, considering his extensive experience across all formats for India. The left-handed batting all-rounder from Punjab represented India in all three formats.
India have failed to advance to the ICC World Test Championship final in 2025 in the Gautam Gambhir era and have suffered two crushing defeats in home conditions. Indian fans have been angry with the national head coach after the recent loss to South Africa.
Gautam Gambhir is not going anywhere till 2027 World Cup – report
There have been loud claims about Gautam Gambhir being sacked as coach of the Indian national team for the red ball format. India not only lost the matches but were also humiliated by the Proteas.
Chasing a weak target of 124, India were bowled out for less than 100 runs, leaving India shattered. Gambhir’s strategies did not work in the longest format of the game, leading to calls for his dismissal.
However, considering his success in limited overs cricket, the news from BCCI is that Gautam Gambhir is not going anywhere till the 2027 World Cup, till then he has signed a contract with BCCI.
Yuvraj Singh has received support to join Gautam Gambhir’s coaching team.
The idea of split coaching has been supported by many former cricketers as well as cricket fans, as they want Gautam Gambhir to remain in white-ball cricket but would like to explore new options in Test cricket.
In a recent conversation with Ravish Bisht, when asked about his opinion on the sacking of Gautam Gambhir and Brendon McCullum from their respective teams for the betterment of Test cricket in India and England, former England spinner Monty Panesar said that India should bring in a more experienced star for Test coaching.
He named former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh for the role and credited him for giving India modern superstars like Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill.
Monty Panesar @montypanesar Back @YUVSTRONG12 As the new batting coach for Team India if India wants to perform well in all formats. #YuvrajSingh #teamindia pic.twitter.com/Ad2Q13pZff
– Ravish Bisht (@ravishbofficial) 30 December 2025
Comparison of statistics of Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir in first class cricket
After Monty Panesar commented on Gautam Gambhir’s lack of first-class experience, he credited Yuvraj Singh for being experienced. If we compare the figures, Yuvraj Singh was successful in playing 60 Test innings for India, whereas Gautam Gambhir played more than 100 Test innings in his career and scored 4154 runs, whereas Yuvraj could only score 1900 runs.
In his vast first-class career, Gautam Gambhir has played 198 matches and scored 15153 runs, while Singh has played 139 matches and scored 8965 runs. Yuvraj was undoubtedly one of India’s greatest List A cricketers; However, Gambhir is also not far behind.
Also read: Gujarat officially appoints Australia’s 190-match veteran as new captain; Indian stars were sidelined
