Under Gautam Gambhir, India have lost 10 Tests and won only seven.
Former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie has politely declined a fan’s request to coach the struggling India Test team. The suggestion came from a fan on social media after India suffered a humiliating series defeat at home against New Zealand and South Africa.
A social media user recently tagged Gillespie on his post on X (formerly Twitter) saying, “Jason, you need to coach India now because they are not just losing but getting whitewashed at home twice; they need you seriously.”
The 50-year-old responded from his account with a simple “No thanks,” putting an end to speculations about a possible role in improving India’s Test performance.
Notably, Jason Gillespie boasts a vast coaching career. He kick-started his coaching journey with the Mid West Rhinos and grassroots work in Zimbabwe in 2010 and then served as the bowling coach for Kings XI Punjab (now PBKS) in the IPL 2011. His biggest achievement and tenure came at Yorkshire from 2011 to 2016, where he helped the side gain promotion and clinch back-to-back County Championship titles in 2014 and 2015. He missed out on a third successive title in 2016 as he had to return home due to personal reasons.
Other roles in his career include coaching the Adelaide Strikers in 2015, serving as interim head coach for Papua New Guinea in 2017, and coaching Sussex in 2018. He was also the head coach for South Australia in 2020 and took on the role of head coach for Pakistan in 2024.
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Gautam Gambhir took over the head coach reins from Rahul Dravid post the T20 World Cup 2024 in Barbados. Since then, the Men in Blue have dominated the white-ball formats, clinching the Champions Trophy 2025 and Asia Cup 2025. But they have also experienced two whitewashes in Test cricket in just over 12 months. This comes after they dominated the format at home for 12 years, having not lost a single series from December 2012 to October 2024. These disappointing performances at home sparked new discussions about the team’s future.
Now, Gambhir’s Test record as an India Test coach looks bleak: seven wins, 10 losses, and two draws. His tenure began strongly, with a 2-0 home victory over Bangladesh, before it turned into a disaster, marked by a whitewash in New Zealand and a 1-3 loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 in Australia.
Stalwarts like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin retired soon after BGT 2024-25, leaving a huge leadership void. Shubman Gill’s time as captain showed some promise with a tense 2-2 draw against England and a 2-0 win against the West Indies, but it wasn’t enough to hide the decline.
The series against South Africa highlighted their struggles. Gill missed games due to a neck injury from the Kolkata Test, so Rishabh Pant stepped in as captain during batting failures as India failed to chase down a modest 124-run target in the first Test. In the second Test, they were crushed by current Test champions South Africa, which also included India’s largest ever defeat by 408 runs. The Indian contingent then won the ODIs and T20Is against the same opposition.
Next up, India will face New Zealand for a white-ball tour. The three ODIs will begin on January 11, and the first of five T20Is will be played on January 21.
Suryakumar Yadav will lead the hosts for the T20 World Cup defence, starting February 7, 2026, against the USA in Mumbai.
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