Former cricketer Gautam Gambhir was appointed the next head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team by the BCCI on Tuesday. Gambhir was the frontrunner in the race to become the head coach. Rahul Dravid’s tenure ended with India’s victory in the T20 World Cup in Barbados last month. Gautam Gambhir’s first tour as India’s coach will be to Sri Lanka, where the team will play a series of three T20 and three ODI matches from July 27.

However, on the very first tour, Gambhir may have to face the absence of big players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jaspreet Bumrah. In fact, after winning the T20 World Cup title, most of the players in India’s T20 squad have been given rest. Only a few players who were part of the World Cup have gone for the ongoing T20 series against Zimbabwe.

Gautam Gambhir will take over the command of Team India from Sri Lanka tour

India’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka is going to start from July 27 but according to media reports, captain Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Virat Kohli may be rested from the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. However, there has been no statement from the BCCI regarding this. After winning the T20 World Cup, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja announced their retirement from T20I.

However, if Rohit and Kohli are not available for this tour, they will miss Gautam Gambhir’s first meeting as a coach. As a player, Gambhir led Kolkata Knight Riders to IPL titles in 2012 and 2014. He then proved his coaching credentials as a mentor to the Knight Riders team that won the IPL title in 2024.