It will be safe to surmise that Gautam Gambhir’s apprenticeship as India’s head coach is behind him. The former opener succeeded Rahul Dravid last July, ahead of a white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, which with hindsight, was a portent of things to come. Gambhir’s record of seven losses in 11 matches as head coach is singularly unflattering. 

After overseeing a 3-0 sweep in the T20 series under new skipper Suryakumar Yadav, Gambhir watched in consternation as the 50-over outfit came unstuck against spin while chasing in all three matches at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. After managing a tie in the first outing, India lost the remaining two, but a false sense of security was installed by a 2-0 rout of Bangladesh in the Test series, followed by a clean sweep of the three T20Is.

That’s as good as it got for Gambhir, save for a brief flourish in the desert sands of Dubai in February-March, when Rohit Sharma muscled India to their third Champions Trophy title. Either side of that commendable triumph, India have found the going tough in Test cricket.