Under Gautam Gambhir, India have done an excellent job in the white-ball assignments. They won their T20I series in Sri Lanka and at home against England earlier this year before lifting the title during the Champions Trophy 2025, where they beat New Zealand in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. 

However, there are questions over his coaching skills in the longest format of the game. They faced their maiden Test series whitewash by 0-3 against New Zealand before losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia down under by 3-1. They drew the away England series 2-2, but some of his decisions regarding the team selections were debatable.

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Meanwhile, India’s veteran batter, Cheteshwar Pujara, has picked the legendary and former all-rounder of the Blue Brigade, Ravichandran Ashwin, as India’s coach for the future. The Chennai-born is known for his various skills and knowledge of the game in both the batting and bowling departments. He hung up his international cricket after the end of the third Gabba Test in BGT 2024-25.

Cheteshwar Pujara picks Ravichandran Ashwin as India’s new head coach

Ashwin retired from the longest format as India’s second leading wicket-taker. The off-spinner picked up 537 wickets in 200 innings at an average of 24 and a strike rate of 50.73 with an economy rate of 2.83, thanks to 37 five-wicket hauls and eight ten-wicket hauls at the best bowling figure of 7/59 in an inning.

Ashwin, due to his decent performance with the ball in the white-ball formats, ended as the second leading wicket-taker with 765 scalps in 379 innings at an average of just under 26 and a strike rate of 45.75, with 37 fifers and eight ten-wicket hauls at the best figures of 7/59.

Pujara also claimed that Virat Kohli would finish with all the records in the future. The former Indian captain hasn’t been in action since the end of the IPL 2025 for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. It’s expected that he would return to the Indian colors during their upcoming three-match ODI series against Australia down under in late autumn.