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For the agitated Virat Kohli fans out there — please don’t worry about his future when Gautam Gambhir takes over as the coach of the team. Contrary to the perception that Gambhir would fast-track Kohli’s exit from international cricket, it is possible that the two champion cricketers could join hands and end India’s ICC tournament-winning drought.
They have done it in the past as they were part of a World Cup-winning team in 2011. They can do it again. On the field and off it, they have been fierce competitors. For over a decade, they have fought battles against each other. If they are on the same team again, they will repeat the 2011 World Cup performance. Who knows?
Both of them are passionate professionals from Delhi. They also have a public image to keep. Their common goal to make India win ICC trophies must keep them together. Otherwise, there is no point.
For the good of the dressing room, they will keep it simple and peaceful. At the end of it, they both are Delhiites and they know that this arrangement will suit them the best. Kohli and Gambhir will have to be like some of the Delhi voters, who chose a political party after it promised free water supply and nominal electricity bills a few years ago. So, both will have to live and live to survive for the long term. It has to be the story of survival of the fittest.
A fair estimation of Kohli’s childhood coach, Raj Kumar Sharma, is that his favorite student isn’t going anywhere from international cricket in the next four to five years. Looking at Kohli’s fitness level, it would be tough to single him out based on age when he is scoring big and moving around sharply on the field. Gambhir too is looking at a four-year contract as opposed to a three-and-a-half-year contract offered by the BCCI.
Technically, both Kohli and Gambhir should co-exist. But the way Gambhir and Kohli have met and greeted each other in the 2024 IPL season, it is tough to re-start their old animosity. It is practically impossible to do so in the Indian dressing room.
However, within the walls of Indian cricket, the conspiracy theory is that Gambhir was chosen as a coach of India to put an end to Kohli. With the entry of ‘Gauti Bhai,’ as Kohli prefers to call him affectionately these days, the complete story has changed. Gambhir would like to see Kohli playing more for his team rather than playing for himself, which Kohli would promptly say in team meetings: “Ji Gauti Bhai.”
The dynamics of Indian cricket would change with Gambhir coming into the picture. It is like this: You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours. But for sure, Indian cricket is heading to some interesting times!
