India will take on Sri Lanka on July 27th

Gambhir had a great season in the IPL: Shastri

Gambhir has seen these guys from the outside: Shastri

With the first game of India’s tour to Sri Lanka scheduled to be held on July 27th, Indian cricket fans are eagerly awaiting to see how Gautham Gambhir fares in his first tour as the Indian captain. Former Indian coach Ravi Shastri seemed optimistic about the prospects that Gambhir’s tenure holds for Indian cricket. “He’s contemporary, he just had a great season in the IPL. I think he’s the right age where he’s young, he’ll come with fresh ideas. He knows most of the players, especially in the white-ball format, having been part of teams in the IPL. So I think it’s refreshing (sic),” Shastri said in The ICC Review show.

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There were concerns regarding whether the temperament of Gambhir would help in adapting to his role as the coach. He’s also had public outbursts against Indian batsman Virat Kohli is believed to be an integral part of India’s squad. Shastri was however confident that this would not act as an impediment in his performance. “It’s a question of just understanding his players as quickly as possible. What their strengths are, what kind of human beings they are and what kind of temperaments do they have? What are their personalities? A lot goes behind the scenes to understand a human being. I think that will be his most important task, which I think again should not be a problem because he’s contemporary. He’s seen these guys from the outside, he’s dealt with a lot of guys who might have played with KKR as well and for Lucknow (Super Giants) when he was there,” Shastri added.