"Make those hard decisions": Anil Kumble wants Gautam Gambhir to decide future of senior players

The India Cricket Team began their ICC Champions Trophy campaign with a dominating 6-wicket win over Bangladesh in Dubai. Mohammed Shami’s fifer and Shubman Gill’s unbeaten ton were the highlight of the show. However, former India head coach, Anil Kumble has a piece of special advice for Gautam Gambhir. He has asked Gambhir to make the hard decisions regarding the future of the senior players in the squad.

Heading into the tournament, there was huge criticism of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. The star duo batters have been in poor form off late and their future in the game has drawn several speculations from far and wide.

Cricket

1 month

“Virat Kohli is worried”: Robin Uthappa wants Kohli to focus more on scoring runs

Make those Tough Calls urges Kumble

Coming to the India vs Bangladesh clash, Rohit Sharma managed a solid 41-run knock but Kohli was a bit wasteful. The ace batter could manage 22 runs before falling off cheaply. But the major criticism came due to Virat Kohli‘s slow batting. The star ate away 38 deliveries, hitting just a single boundary batting with a strike rate of 57.89.

“You could say this is a very important tournament for a coach who has to make those tough calls in terms of transitioning from the legacy players to the others. But that’s the job of the coach, to make those hard decisions,” Kumble told ESPNCricinfo.

Anil Kumble wants Gautam Gambhir to make those tough calls with the 2027 ODI World Cup just 2 years away. Kumble claimed that the current tournament would be fundamental in deciding the futures of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and Mohammed Shami.

“This tournament could determine where those seniors would go, and where India would look at making those changes. Win or lose, you need these tough calls to be made at the earliest. You need to start looking ahead in white-ball cricket, especially at the 2027 World Cup,” Kumble added.

Also Read:

“In any World Cup, you’re looking at building a squad that has played at least 20 or 25 matches together. That’s when you understand the nuances of match situations, and who to rely on. Ideally, at the end of this tournament, you must start looking ahead to the next World Cup. Do the seniors make it there? Or do we give the opportunity to youngsters to take the team forward in the shorter formats and build a strong unit? These are questions Gambhir needs to address,” he said.

Anil Kumble further added that Gautam Gambhir now needs to integrate more younger players in the India Playing XI. This will help India get prepared for the upcoming ODI World Cup and also build the base of the team.

“He has a fresh, young team and plenty of players to choose and build from, so he needs to organically start preparing for the 2027 World Cup. In T20Is, he’s done well. Suryakumar Yadav has been a great captain. The next World Cup is still two years from now, and the new set of players will need a consistent run of games playing with each other, to understand many things like the batting order, match situation, and tactics,” Kumble concluded.

Cricket ICC Champions Trophy India Cricket Team Anil Kumble Gautam Gambhir