Gautam Gambhir Dubs Rohit Sharma as ‘General’ of Team India: ‘Captain Will Always Take Final Call’ – News18

As Gautam Gambhir prepares for his first Test assignment, the newly appointed Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team has shared more details on the kind of coach he would be for the side as they prepare to take on Bangladesh for the first Test in Chennai.

Speaking in an interview with JioCinema, the Head Coach emphasised what his role in the side would be. It would be one where he and the coaching staff would support the captain as he believes it is only fair since it is the skipper who is out on the field as the ‘general’ who would take the final call if there are any disagreements between the coach and the captain.

“I have always been a big believer when I was playing when I was mentoring that it is always the captain’s team. Because it’s the captain that leads the team on the field. Yes, me and the entire support staff are there to help the team, help the captain in whatever capacity that we can and there will be times when obviously we’ll have disagreements on a lot of things. But then ultimately the final call will always be the captain’s call because he is the general there,” Gambhir shared.

While there could be disagreements about certain calls, Gambhir remains solely focused on the bigger picture which is the team which he believes would help bring out better decisions.

The former Indian opening batter said, “More importantly, our intentions, our intent and our heart are in the right place more often than not, the decisions which we make together will always be in the best interest of the team and they will always be I think we’ll have more good decisions than bad decisions”.

Rohit the Leader

Speaking on the captain of the Indian ODI and Test side, Rohit Sharma, Gambhir reflected on the time he spent with him as a player and what he has seen during his coaching days.

Gambhir hailed the kind of respect that Rohit commands in the dressing room and believes that it is Mumbaikar’s character which makes him a fine leader for the Indian side.

“Rohit we all know the kind of leader he is, the kind of human he is, the kind of person he is and I’ve always believed that a good human becomes a good leader. So he’s a great guy, I think a lot of people have, he’s got a lot of respect in that dressing room and that is the first and foremost quality of a leader when you earn that respect not only by your actions on the field but the kind of person you are,” Gambhir said about Rohit Sharma as a leader.

“Obviously, it helps the team and the support staff in a much bigger way because the thing is it gets the support staff much more easily,” he added.

As far as their relationship is concerned, Gambhir sees a lot of what he saw back in his playing days when it comes to Rohit and hopes that continues. With regards to their responsibilities, it is always the team first and also making sure that the fans are entertained.

“My relationship with him when we were playing was fabulous, even then he was a great human being and hopefully, it continues that way. Because for me it’s not about me, it’s not about him it’s not about us, it’s about Indian cricket and it is our responsibility to bring a smile to the faces of every Indian that follows Indian cricket,” he concluded.