Gautam Gambhir becomes India’s most successful head coach in history; how his stint as backroom staff panned out so far

Gautam Gambhir became the most successful coach in the history of Indian cricket after the Men in Blue lifted the T20 World Cup 2026 trophy at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, beating New Zealand in the final in front of a 100,000-plus crowd. Since taking over from Rahul Dravid in July 2024, Gambhir’s “Midas Touch” in white-ball cricket helped the Indian team rewrite history in the past one and half years.

Gambhir took over the reins with no proper coaching experience. The experience in his resume after playing career was three-years of mentorship in Indian Premier League. The Delhi-lad started with Lucknow Super Giants, guiding the team to playoffs in the 2022 and 2023 IPL seasons. The following year, Gambhir shifted to Kolkata Knight Riders, leading the franchise to a third IPL title, alongside captain Shreyas Iyer.

As a player, Gambhir’s credentials were never in question. In fact, Gambhir’s contributions in the finals of 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup, played a crucial role in India lifting the title on both occasions. But as far as his coaching was concerned, people were skeptical at first, on how long Gambhir would sustain at the top level.

Gautam Gambhir’s initial days

After a mixed bag Sri Lanka tour (lost ODI series, won T20I series), India’s first Test series win under Gambhir was 2-0 win at home over Bangladesh. However, the Indian team stumbled when faced the best. The then Rohit Sharma-led side lost to New Zealand 0-3 at home before surrendering in front of Australia 1-4 a couple of months later.

But Gambhir redefined himself by guiding the team to his first-ever ICC trophy win as a head coach when India lifted the Champions Trophy in Dubai, beating New Zealand in the final in 2025. With both Virat Kohli and Rohit retiring from Tests, Gambhir was tasked to guide new captain Shubman Gill.

The Gambhir-Gill pair worked as India staged a thrilling fightback to draw the five-match away series against England 2-2. Although India won 2–0 against west Indies, but the home team once again stumbled in front of South Africa in a two-match series, losing on both occasions.

India’s T20I dominance

Despite his red-ball failures, white-ball cricket is somewhere Gambhir’s ideology thrived, especially in the shortest format of the game. Blocking the outside noise, Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav led the Indian team to an Asia Cup triumph in 2025. However, India are yet to get the Asia Cup trophy, after it refused to receive the silverware from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chairman and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Mohsin Naqvi.

The former Indian southpaw redefined the national team’s fearless and selfless approach, keeping at par with the requirements of modern-day cricket. Another principle of Gambhir has been Team first over individual milestones. That carried forward in the T20 World Cup 2026 too as the Men in Blue recorded three 250-plus scores in the tournament.

It must also be noted that Gambhir is yet to lose a final (as a player or a coach). As a player, Gambhir won 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ODI World Cup, 2012 and 2014 editions of IPL while as a mentor/coach, he won IPL 2024, ICC Champions Trophy and Asia Cup, both in 2025 and T20 World Cup 2026. No coach of the Indian team has won three finals before.