Not Rohit Sharma Or Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir Blamed For Poor Handling Of Two Indian Stars

India head coach Gautam Gambhir has experienced both highs and lows since taking charge of the team. Under Gambhir, India have won two major ICC titles, the Champions Trophy 2025 and the T20 World Cup 2026. However, his tenure has also been marked by two disappointing Test series defeats at home against New Zealand and South Africa.

Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer believes those two Test series losses will remain the biggest low points of Gambhir’s time as head coach. He also feels that the way some senior players were handled in white-ball cricket could have been better.

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Jaffer specifically mentioned Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammed Shami while discussing Gambhir’s decisions in the limited-overs format.

“Some individuals could have gotten better treatment, like Surya (Suryakumar Yadav), who was axed after winning the (T20) World Cup. There are other players as well, like Shami. Some things could have been better. But otherwise, I don’t think in white-ball cricket any blame can be put on him,” Jaffer said, speaking on his YouTube channel, as quoted by Times Now.

Jaffer then turned his attention to India’s Test struggles, particularly the home defeats against New Zealand and South Africa.

“The mark of those two whitewash series will always be on him, without a doubt. Not just on his CV, but also on the captain and other players. Coming to India and beating them was a final frontier that not many teams had achieved. It was very bad for us to suddenly lose like that. He will definitely feel that had we won those series, we would be at the top of the WTC table. There is a lot of scope for improvement in Test cricket for him. Not just for him, but for the players also,” Jaffer explained.

India are now looking to move forward from those setbacks. The Shubman Gill-led side are currently playing a two-Test series against Sri Lanka and lead the series 1-0. The second Test is currently underway.

India are fifth in the World Test Championship (WTC) points table. A win in the second Test would move them up to fourth place.

India’s WTC Final qualification scenario

India still have a long road ahead if they want to qualify for the WTC Final. After the Sri Lanka series, the team are scheduled to play seven more Tests.

That includes a two-Test home series against New Zealand and a five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in 2026-27.

India will need to win all seven of those matches to secure their place in the WTC Final without having to depend on the results of other teams.