Exclusive: Gautam Gambhir to travel with India ‘A’ to England

Head coach wants to monitor reserve pool; prepares blueprint for WTC, T20 and ODI WCs
NEW DELHI: There may be no international cricket for India in the next three months, but head coach Gautam Gambhir has already firmed up his prep plan for the five-Test tour of England starting in late June. TOI has learnt that Gambhir has decided to travel with the India ‘A’ team to England before the Test tour gets underway on June 20.
Since the Indian cricket board (BCCI) doesn’t have any designated coach for the developmental sides, it will be interesting to see if Gambhir travels just as an observer or BCCI’s Head Cricket VVS Laxman takes up the role. After Rahul Dravid had assumed the role of the head coach of the senior team, for India ‘A’ and U-19 assignments the BCCI rotated coaches from the pool at the National Cricket Academy. It would be the first time the senior team coach will be accompanying an

India A

side on a tour.

Sources told TOI that Gambhir has been working on a roadmap across formats for the next two years leading to the

2027 ODI World Cup

, a phase which will also include the World Test Championship and 2026

T20 World Cup

. “Gambhir has been in discussions with the BCCI since he returned from Australia. He has expressed his desire to travel with the India ‘A’ team to get a clearer view of the reserve pool,” a BCCI source said. “With India winning the Champions Trophy after Gambhir’s insistence for certain wild card players, one may expect him to assert more in future,” the source added.
India’s Test cricket standing plummeted after Gambhir took up the job last July. India lost 0-3 to New Zealand at home before suffering 1-3 defeat in Australia. Gambhir, chief selector Ajit Agarkar and Laxman have had discussions on possible ways of reviving India’s pool of players for Test cricket.
“One of the crucial issues identified is reviving India ‘A’ tours. There have been only a handful ‘A’ series after Dravid left NCA and all of those were shadow tours for a marquee series. Gambhir too believes that there needs to be more ‘A’ tours. That’s why he wants to take stock of the situation firsthand,” the source said.
If one goes by the selection trends since Gambhir took charge, there are plenty of impulsive calls taken majorly on the horses-for-courses theory. Of late, India’s Test squad has looked far from settled. The resource pool hasn’t been tried enough. As is the practice on shadow tours, a few of the senior team players may be urged to play in the ‘A’ series in England. Gambhir will be taking stock of the senior players’ form and identifying possible backups.
With Rohit Sharma‘s Test form and place in the XI still under scrutiny, focus will be on finding a steady reserve opener and also a solid middle order batter. India didn’t show any confidence in Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sarfaraz Khan in the tour of Australia. Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair will look to impress along with Easwaran and Sarfaraz in the ‘A’ series.
India’s pace-bowling resources will also be on trial with question marks over Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami’s fitness to survive a five-Test tour.

Segregating T20 WC and ODI WC preparation
Gambhir has been advocating having a niche T20 team that will be largely picked on form. TOI understands that he doesn’t want to mix the ODI and T20I formats.
India will play about 24 ODIs going into the next World Cup. The coach would prefer to form the core of the ODI team as early as possible. The selectors and Gambhir will need to be sure if they see Rohit continuing as captain till October 2027.
Gambhir has apparently argued that the T20 team is excelling since there’s clarity on how the players need to approach the format. Barring a few top players, one may expect very few two format white-ball players.
India will co-host the next T20 World Cup with Sri Lanka next year. This IPL becomes very crucial in that sense since Gambhir is a strong advocate of recent form.