India have seen multiple ups and downs with Gautam Gambhir at the helm. With two years completed in his tenure, here's a brief timeline of his stint as the head coach.
Gambhir completed two years recently after being appointed to the post on July 9, 2024. But he has found himself at the epicenter of a lot of controversies that have become stark headlines during his tenure.
India won three multi-nation tournaments under him - namely the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, the Asia Cup 2025 and the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. These achievements have highlighted the peak of his coaching career with respect to the white-ball formats.
But apart from that, his influence on the red-ball side has been far from ideal. In addition to losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2025, India were not able to keep their home record intact, and were taken down by South Africa and New Zealand, which marked a new low.
Here's a brief timeline of the two years that Gautam Gambhir has spent at the helm of Indian cricket:
Settling into the role (Jul 2024 - Oct 2024)
The first assignment for Gambhir was an away white-ball series against Sri Lanka, followed by a bilateral series against Bangladesh at home. Though India managed to clinch the T20I series against Sri Lanka, they suffered defeat in the three-match ODI series.
Against Bangladesh at home, it was relatively smooth sailing as India managed to win every game in the series which comprised two Tests and three T20Is.
The shocker Test phase (Oct 2024 - Jan 2025)
Then came the shocker in Tests, that no one was ready for. New Zealand made a mockery of the Indian side in their own den. India were unable to survive on the spinning tracks that they had prepared for their opponents.
Soon after that, Gambhir & Co. travelled down under for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which was always going to be a tremendous challenge. Jasprit Bumrah led the side in the first Test in the absence of Rohit Sharma, and India won the game handsomely. Unfortunately for the visitors, that was the only victory they could manage on the tour.
The white-ball surge & Champions Trophy title (Jan 2025 - Mar 2025)
The attention then shifted towards white-ball cricket, with England coming in for a bilateral series as the first assignment of 2025. India managed to win the T20I series 4-1, and also the ODI series 3-0 to fine-tune their preparation for the ICC Champions Trophy in the UAE.
The Men in Blue then emerged victorious in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, defeating New Zealand in the final of the tournament.
New Test skipper & the England tour (Jun 2025 - Aug 2025)
While the team was just at the foothill of the England tour, Shubman Gill was appointed as the new Test captain. This was after stalwarts like Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma hung their boots from the red-ball format.
In a courageous exhibition in the fifth & final Test, the Shubman Gill-led India managed to clinch a series draw with a win at The Oval. The series was India's first without the aforementioned big names.
Tests remained a concern (Sep 2025 - Nov 2025)
India went on to lift the Asia Cup 2025 title with a win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the final, and the tournament also marked the start of the handshake gate. The dominance continued with a bilateral series win over the West Indies at home.
However, the Tests against South Africa at home once again raised concerns, as India lost a home series in the format for the second time in Gambhir's tenure as head coach. India had now lost four Tests within a year, when their previous four home defeats had come over an almost seven-year period.
The T20I surge continued (Jan 2026 - Mar 2026)
The beginning of 2026 marked a white-ball bilateral series against New Zealand at home. The hosts managed a thumping 4-1 victory in the T20I series (which also began their preparation for the T20 World Cup), but were taken down by the Kiwis in ODIs.
To add to that, the Men in Blue, led by Suryakumar Yadav, managed to defend their T20 World Cup title by comprehensively beating New Zealand in the final in Ahmedabad.
Victory against Afghanistan, followed by a blip against Ireland & England (Jun 2026 - July 2026)
The Shubman Gill-led side comprehensively beat Afghanistan in both Tests and ODIs. India then dropped World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav and appointed Shreyas Iyer as their new skipper in T20Is. But they were soon taken down by Ireland in the two-match series in Belfast.
Furthermore, the team was condemened to a 4-0 T20I whitewash against England, right after the shocking results against Ireland.
Next up, India are scheduled to travel to Zimbabwe for a three-match T20I series in July, post which, they have a bilateral series lined up against the West Indies at home.
A tenure with a tinge of everything
The first two years of Gautam Gambhir's tenure as the India head coach will go down as a mix of everything. Though the ICC trophies will be at the focus of all the discussions, the transition that the team went through after bidding adieu to some of their stalwarts took them down an unwanted curve, especially in red-ball cricket.
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