Gautam Gambhir on being successful coach: Not important to play cricket

Gautam Gambhir.

Former Indian cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir recently shared his views on what it takes to become a successful coach in cricket.

Gautam Gambhir talked about being a successful cricket coach, on Star Sports show Cricket Connected saying, "It's not important that you have played a lot of cricket, for you to be a very successful coach - probably, that's right for a selector, but not for a coach."

Gambhir continued, "Probably you can just have a different T20 batting coach, just for that particular format. It is really not true that someone who hasn't played international cricket or who hasn't played enough cricket, can't become a successful coach. What ultimately a coach does in a T20 format is frees your mindset and feeds your mindset and make you hit those goals and those big shots. No one teaches you how to hit a lap shot or a reverse lap shot, no coach can do that. If someone is trying to do that to a player, he is harming him more than actually making him a better player."

Gautam Gambhir is regarded as one of the finest opening batsmen during his time and formed a strong upper order force with Virender Sehwag. Gambhir played 58 Tests and 147 ODIs scoring 4,154 and 5,238 runs respectively in those formats.

Gambhir retired from all forms of cricket in December 2018. The following year in March, Gautam Gambhir entered politics and joined the BJP and contested in the 2019 Indian general election. Gambhir went on to win the East Delhi election

Cricket Connected airs every Saturday & Sunday at 7 PM & 9 PM IST on the Star Sports network and Disney+ Hotstar. The show, hosted by the much-loved Jatin Sapru, has cricketing legends engage with fans through video calls discussing a range of topics, from getting to know what these cricketers are up to during the lockdown to reminiscing with them over their favourite knock.

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news