Amid Indian cricket team coaching job interview, where the names of Gautam Gambhir and WV Raman have emerged, there is a question about support staff too. According to some reports, Gambhir has apparently asked the BCCI a free-hand to choose his own support staff. Currently, under coach Rahul Dravid, Vikram Rathour is the batting coach, Paras Mhambrey is the bowling coach while T Dilip is the fielding coach. In the midst of this, BCCI and Gambhir has been sent an important message by former Pakistan star Kamran Akmal.

“Team India doesn’t need any foreign coaches. They have plenty of options and talent. After Dravid, no one can be the best and bigger than Gautam Gambhir. He was a big player and will become a great coach too. He is the best option India have right now,” Akmal was quoted as saying by Times of India.

“Gambhir was with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). They did really well under him. He became a mentor of KKR and they became champions. He is an amazing planner and has a brilliant cricketing mind. I have played a lot of cricket with him. We have been together for a long time. We played, had food, and had chats together. We are still good friends. We are still in touch,” he said.

“He is the best man to coach Team India. He should be the head coach. India can go for Ashish Nehra or Zaheer Khan as bowling coach,” Kamran added.

Gambhir’s name has been linked to the job even before he submitted the application. It was his skills leading the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 that made him the ‘ideal candidate’ to fill Dravid’s shoes.

The CAC, appointed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the job, put three important questions, as per RevSportz, in front of both Gambhir and WV Raman, another candidate. They were:

1. What are your ideas regarding the coaching staff of the team?

2. With a few aging players in both the batting and bowling departments, how will you handle the transition phase?

3. What are your views on split captaincy, fitness parameters concerning workload management, and addressing the team’s failure to win ICC trophies?