London [UK], June 17 : Former wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik believes India head coach Gautam Gambhir is tactically "very good," but he feels man management remains an area he would examine.
While Gambhir extended India's dominance in limited-overs cricket, red-ball cricket remains a format in which he has yet to establish supremacy. In his first Test assignment, India convincingly won against Bangladesh but lost the plot against New Zealand and Australia.
India was pummelled by the Kiwis on home turf to a historic 3-0 whitewash. This was followed by a collective failure to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia for the first time in a decade, which was topped up by agonisingly crashing out of the World Test Championship race despite being favourites.
As India faces another task, Karthik believes that even though Gambhir defends his players, he can't be as aggressive as a coach as he was during his captaincy days.
"Tactically, Gauti (Gautam Gambhir) is a very good coach. Man management is the area that I am sure he would be looking at. But one thing about him is that he is looking out for his players which is massive. What I feel at times is that the way he is aggressive as a captain, you can't be as a coach. You are managing different individuals. Once you let them out in the park, you trust them to do the job. That is the challenge," Karthik said on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
Throughout India's turbulent phase, the entire team and management were surrounded by controversies, suggesting rifts between players and the coaching staff. With a new sunrise marking the beginning of the latest chapter in Indian cricket, Gambhir would be keen on embracing the opportunity with both hands.
Gambhir and his troops will kick off their campaign in the latest WTC cycle with five gruelling Tests against England, commencing June 20 at Headingley. The intensity of the challenge will be further heightened considering the absence of batting mainstays Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who pulled the curtain down on their respective careers last month.
Shubman Gill was deemed Rohit's successor and was crowned with the title of Test captaincy. Rishabh Pant was named his deputy, and young blood was infused into the squad to fill the void. Gambhir left the Indian camp due to family emergency.
India's Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.