Over the past few days, news about sacking the Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir has continued to become viral on the internet. Earlier, it was reported that the former Indian batter VVS Laxman was approached by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to become the next test coach of the senior men’s cricket team.
Speculations reached a peak level, citing disappointment with India’s increasing failure rate in red-ball cricket under Gambhir’s coaching.
India, after slipping to sixth position in the points table, has slim chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2027 final. As a consequence, the 44-year-old’s future as test cricket’s head coach is now in jeopardy.
‘Wrong News’: BCCI Secretary Clears the Confusion
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia clarified that the Indian board hasn’t taken any such severe steps and conveys that there is no truth in the information provided by the media reports:
“NO! The news circulating about Gautam Gambhir is completely incorrect and speculative. Especially, the shocking part is that the reputable media sources are flashing the news that doesn’t contain any truth at all.
BCCI strictly denies such information and clarifies that the board has not yet taken any steps so far. This is some individual’s twisted piece of imagination, which does not include any truth. Right now, all I can say is that this is not official news, and the speculations are truly baseless,” Saikia said.
Reasons Behind Gambhir’s Red-Ball Coaching Sacking Rumors
A few weeks after India’s clean sweep loss of 0-2 to South Africa at home, Gautam Gambhir’s coaching in test cricket came under scrutiny. This was indeed their second whitewashing defeat in consecutive years of the test series on home soil, following a 0-3 sweep to New Zealand last year under Gambhir’s coaching.
Mainly, the loss against New Zealand marked India’s first-ever test series loss at home after 12 years since their previous defeat to England in 2012. Since then, India’s dominance in tests at home was elevated to a higher level by brilliant captains like Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma.
However, the shocking defeat to the Kiwis negatively impacted India’s deserving spot in the WTC 2025 final.
Despite starting the ongoing WTC 2025-27 on a considerable note with a 2-2 draw in the England series, the recent setback against South Africa could once again jeopardise India’s chances to secure a berth in the test championship clash.
As of now, the Indian cricket team is under pressure to secure at least 7 wins out of 9 remaining matches to enhance their qualification chances for the WTC 2027 final.
Gambhir’s Success in Red Ball vs White Ball Cricket
Unlike red-ball cricket, India’s success rate in white ball cricket under Gautam Gambhir’s coaching has been impressive, having won the Champions Trophy and T20I Asia Cup 2025 as the unbeaten team.
However, the disappointing part is that India, out of 19 test matches, managed to win only 7 tests and lost 10 of them, with the remaining 2 concluding as draws.
Although India under Gambhir started on a dominating note with a 2-0 victory against Bangladesh, but faced severe struggles against New Zealand (0-3) and Australia (1-3). The back-to-back humiliating defeats forced the legendary cricketers like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin to announce their test cricket retirement.
BCCI Source Confirms Gambhir’s Continuity as Test Coach
One of the closest BCCI’s sources revealed the strong support of Gautam Gambhir within the Indian cricket team, citing his long-term continuity as the red-ball coach:
“Certainly! Gambhir holds a strong influence within the power channels of Indian cricket. Suppose Team India manages to retain the T20 World Cup or at least qualify for the semi-final and final, then he would continue with his tenure. But it remains to be observed if Gambhir prefers to continue in tests too, which depends on his choice.
Moreover, there aren’t several alternatives to replace him, which is a big advantage for him as VVS Laxman has not yet shown any interest in coaching the men’s team at the senior level,” the BCCI source conveyed.
Overall Verdict
It becomes clear that Gautam Gambhir’s job remains safe as the BCCI secretary clarified that there was no official or unofficial discussion with Laxman to replace the current head coach.
Currently, India’s main challenge is not about their WTC 2027 qualification chances, but rather defending their T20 World Cup title won under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy in June 2024. The focus now shifts towards the young T20 squad led by Suryakumar Yadav and coached by Gambhir for the forthcoming ICC’s prestigious tournament commencing on February 07, 2026.
Also, Laxman’s fondness for his role with NCA and with the T20 World Cup 2026 approaching sooner, it is now confirmed that there is no threat to Gambhir’s tenure as red-ball coach.