The head coach of the Indian cricket team Gautam Gambhir received a big smile and a warm hug from Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, the star players, ahead of the five-match T20I series against New Zealand. The duo had earlier opted out of the three-match ODI series, which was the rest phase before they come back to play the most important roles in India's T20 campaign, which includes the T20 World Cup in 2026.
Gautam Gambhir along with the rest of the Indian support staff was recently added to the T20I squad in Nagpur as the Men in Blue prepared for the series-opener on January 21. It was quite evident that the hosts struggled without Bumrah and Pandya during the ODI series, which resulted in New Zealand's first-ever series win in India.
Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak were all smiles as they walked towards the returning players during a practice session for the opening T20I. After exchanging handshakes, hugs, and friendly talks, the players returned to the nets while the coaching staff stayed close to the session for monitoring.
Gautam Gambhir makes his comeback to the T20I squad after a difficult period with the ODI team against New Zealand. Under his captaincy, India lost the third bilateral ODI series as Michael Bracewell's men defeated the giants in Rajkot and Indore giving a remarkable battle with their impressive victories thus sealing the historic outcome.
Gambhir is pressured to talk about India’s performance in the longer formats, but he can always point to his T20I record as his mainstay. India have lost only four T20Is during his tenure and have won six consecutive bilateral series plus the 2025 Asia Cup trophy.
Read also: Who is Gautami Naik? RCB-W All-Rounder Who Scored 73 vs GG-W
Just the same, India still have a few hurdles to overcome before the all-important T20 World Cup because of erratic form and injuries to some players. The squad has already been cut down considerably with the exclusion of Shubman Gill and Jitesh Sharma and now the team is eagerly awaiting news on the fitness of Tilak Varma and Washington Sundar.
Having won their last three home bilateral T20I series against New Zealand, including a 3-0 clean sweep in late 2021, India goes into the series as the clear favorites.
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