It's Gambhir v Superstars?

Gautam Gambhirrsquos position as head coach will be ldquorevaluatedrdquo on the basis of Indiarsquos Champions Trophy performance next month amid concerns that there is discontent in the dressing room due to his push to end the longprevalent ldquosuperstar culturerdquo in the teamSince Gambhir took over in July last year the Indian team has lost six out of 10 Tests and also a bilateral ODI series in Sri LankaThe results have left Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharmarsquos international future in significant disarray thanks to their own poor formBut Gambhirrsquos position has also become slightly shaky Adding to the drama is his speculated rift with prominent players during the BorderGavaskar Test series in Australia which India lost 13ldquoIf India doesnrsquot do well in the Champions Trophy the head coachrsquos position could become untenable Yes his contract runs till the 2027 World Cup but the process of evaluation continueslsquoSport is resultorientedrsquoldquoSport is resultoriented and till now Gambhir hasnrsquot given any tangible resultsrdquo a senior BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymityAlso ReadTeam India eye clean sweep against Ireland in the third ODIThere has already been a review of the teamrsquos performance in Australia by the BCCI It is understood that Gambhir and senior players arenrsquot on the same page on the issue of team cultureldquoGambhir wants to end the superstar culture that has been prevalent for so many years now As captain of Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012 he had dropped Brendon McCullum from the playing XI for the IPL final against CSKldquoHe has come here to dismantle the superstar culture and thatrsquos what has caused discomfort for some playing membersrdquo a source who has seen Gambhirrsquos functioning closely saidAmid this ongoing tussle is the view of the national selection committee which does not want the head coach to have too much of a say in selection matters A former selector said Gambhir has shown shades of mercurial former coach Greg Chappell in his approachThe Australian who came amid much fanfare left in chaos after developing differences with senior players over his training methodsldquoEither you be like a Ravi Shastri who would be mediafriendly give those sound bites propping up players making them look like alpha malesrdquo said the former selector who toured a lot during Shastrirsquos tenure as coachldquoOr be like Rahul Dravid Gary Kirsten or John Wright who would remain aloof letting the players hog the limelightldquoThe lsquoChappell Wayrsquo doesnrsquot work in India Gambhirs or Shastris or Dravids will go but players will stayrdquo he addedPersonal assistant issuesThe BCCI brass is also upset with how Gambhirrsquos personal assistant shadowed the team everywhere in AustralialdquoWhy was his PA sitting in the car specified for national selectors They canrsquot even discuss things in private with an unknown third person in the car Why was he allotted space in the BCCIrsquos hospitality box in Adelaiderdquo an irritated BCCI official saidldquoHow did he have breakfast in the cordoned off area of a fivestar facility which is just earmarked for the team membersrdquo he askedWith the drama picking pace with every passing day it would not be wrong to say that it is a very uneasy Indian dressing room that is heading into the Champions Trophy from February 19 to March 9This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever