Gautam Gambhir, the Indian head coach, earned so much success in the white-ball format, including the home T20I series victory against England, besides lifting the title in the Champions Trophy 2025 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). However, he hadn’t got the same joy in the longest format of the game, including two successive red-ball series defeats.

In his coaching, India lost their first home Test series since 2012 against England before facing another red-ball series defeat against Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 down under by a 4-1 margin. However, it was a decent performance from them to draw the series in England, as the spin all-rounder, Washington Sundar, highlighted his coaching skills.

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“He also had No. 5 on the back of his jersey (like me). And obviously, he was an extremely elegant left-hander. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was bowling to him in the IPL. He was super successful against me, but he is an amazing human being.” Sundar expressed during a recent interview on Wisden.

Washington Sundar comments on Gautam Gambhir's coaching during ENG vs IND 2025 Test series

Sundar smashed a fine knock of 101 runs during the second innings of the fourth Test at Old Trafford in Manchester, which helped them draw the clash. Later, in the second innings of the Oval Test, the left-handed batter drilled 53 runs to set a target for the home side, which they eventually went on to win by six runs.

“He has had so much faith in all of us that we would fight at all times and win the game. Glad to see him happy at the end of the series. Credit to them for having such a calm dressing room throughout the series. Their communication was precise and clear on what was expected.” The Tamil Nadu spinner revealed.

There were several criticisms of Gambhir, regarding his team selection, on why he didn’t pick Kuldeep Yadav for the entire series and kept on going with all-rounders. But at the end of the series, it worked and they drew the series 2-2 margin despite being 2-1 down after the third encounter at Lord’s.