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Former Indian all-rounder and head coach Ravi Shastri backed the newly-appointed Indian coach Gautam Gambhir to succeed in his new role, saying that he is contemporary and young enough to bring fresh ideas to the table for a team which he knows a lot since his playing days with them.
India's tour of Sri Lanka begins with a T20I on Saturday and consists of three T20Is and three ODIs each. Gill will be the deputy to Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma in the short format and 50-overs, respectively. This is Gambhir's first assignment as head coach after being appointed to the position earlier in July after Rahul Dravid vacated the post following the ICC T20 World Cup win in the West Indies. Shastri believes Gautam Gambhir can make an immediate impact in his new role as head coach of India because he is a "contemporary" mentor and is already close to the team. The former opener faces the task of filling the shoes of Rahul Dravid as India's head coach, with the national team at the top of their game following their ICC T20 World Cup win in the West Indies, which ended their 11-year-long ICC trophy drought. The former all-rounder believes Gambhir can flourish in the job given he takes over a relatively settled team and has recently tasted success in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as a mentor, leading the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to their first title in 10 years and overall third. He listed out some potential challenges for the newly-appointed coach, be it player management or understanding each player. "He is a contemporary, he just had a great season in the IPL. I think he is at the right age when he is young, he will come up with fresh ideas. He knows most of the players, especially in the white-ball format, having been part of teams in the IPL. So I think it is refreshing," Shastri said on the latest episode of the ICC Review. "And we know with Gautam, he is a no-nonsense guy. He will have his ideas as well. And the good thing for him is that he has a mature team. He has got a settled and mature team. I think even though you might think you are mature, you might benefit from some fresh ideas. So I think it will be an interesting time." "Obviously, player management becomes the key as a coach. So it will be interesting to see how he goes. I think he has the tools, he has got the goods for the job and he's got the experience," Shastri concluded his point. Gambhir's first task as India coach will be the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka later this month, while further challenges await the 42-year-old in the form of next year's ICC Champions Trophy tournament and qualifying for the 2025 ICC World Test Championship final. A key to achieving the latter will be overcoming Australia on their home turf in the five-Test Border-Gavaskar series starting in November and achieving a hat-trick of series wins there. Shastri said that managing and understanding each individual player will be pivotal to Gambhir's success. "It is a question of just understanding his players as quickly as possible," Shastri added. "What their strengths are, what kind of human beings they are and what kind of temperaments do they have? What are their personalities? A lot goes on behind the scenes to understand a human being." "I think that will be his most important task, which I think again should not be a problem because he is contemporary. He's seen these guys from the outside, he has dealt with a lot of guys who might have played with KKR as well and for Lucknow Super Giants when he was there." "And he has been around the circuit, the moment he finished cricket and that was not too long ago, he still is around, plays a lot of the legends cricket as well," he concluded. India's tour of Sri Lanka will kick- off with a three-match T20I series, followed by a three-match ODI series. The Pallekele International Stadium will be hosting the T20I leg of the series while the R Premadasa is getting to host the 50-over matches. The three ODIs will be held on August 2, August 4, and August 7. Both teams will be taking to the field with new head coaches. While legendary all-rounder Sanath Jayasuriya has been named as the interim head coach for Lankan Lions, this will also be the first assignment for former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir as the head coach, succeeding the T20 World Cup-winning coach Rahul Dravid. India's last tour of Sri Lanka for a bilateral white-ball series came back in July 2021, with Dravid coaching the Shikhar Dhawan-led side. India won the ODI series 2-1, while Sri Lanka secured the T20I series by the same margin. T20I Squad for Sri Lanka series: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj. ODI Squad for Sri Lanka series: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana. (ANI)
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