Indian cricket fans wondered whether Gautam Gambhir’s Instagram account was hacked after the Indian men’s head coach shared a series of self-deprecating memes. It comes amid the building pressure on Gambhir,
with the team struggling for wins in all three formats.
The post included a photo of Gambhir smiling, followed by several memes around how ‘rare’ it was for the former India cricketer to do so. One of the memes even had Gambhir replying stoically to messages of people asking for his help but replying ‘Hukum kare madam ji‘ (On your orders, madam) to a text of ‘Baby ek kaam tha’ (Baby, I need your help), showing the smiling face again for his supposed ‘madam ji’.
“With a Jab desh ka sabse Gambhir insaan muskura de… 😂😂” he wrote in the caption.
Some in the comments also wondered whether this was a post preceding a sponsored campaign. Cricketers and personalities often make — or are made to make — such unorthodox posts to grab attention for advertisements.
Demand for split-coaching is increasing
Gambhir has a long year ahead of him. India won only one match on the tour of England and Ireland, losing as many as six T20Is and two ODIs, leaving the UK empty-handed.
His tactical acumen was already being questioned for Test cricket, and now the same issues are being raised for other formats. He still has a contract running till 2027, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is unlikely to make any knee-jerk changes with just over a year to go for the 2027 World Cup.
However, the BCCI has a meeting arranged for next month to discuss the UK tour, and at least some changes could be in the offing. One of the topics of discussion might be split-coaching, where another mentor is picked for either the Test or the T20I formats.
“I think, going forward, we’ll start seeing these things (split coaching) happen more often. A lot of players come and go, the formats change frequently, and there’s very little time to settle in,” former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer said recently. “So, in my opinion, it makes sense. Whether it actually happens or not remains to be seen. Usually, decisions like these are taken when teams are losing. When you’re winning, neither the players nor, obviously, the support staff are changed very much,” he added.
