Not important to play a lot of cricket to be successful coach: Gautam Gambhir disagrees with Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh, the former Indian all-rounder recently took a dig at the current Indian batting coach Vikram Rathore and raised question over his ability to help the Indian batsmen when it comes to T20Is. He felt that the current coach doesn’t seem to have enough experience in that format. Now, Gautam Gambhir has come out and said that it is not necessary to have vast experience to be a good coach.

Rathour took Team India’s batting coach role as a replacement for Sanjay Bangar back in 2019. He played six Test and seven ODIs for India from 1996 to 1997. There is no doubt over the fact that he has done an incredible job at that position. Interestingly, he has almost solved the dilemma surrounding the number four batting position in the team due to which the national side was struggling since long.

A coach frees your mindset in T20 format: Gautam Gambhir

In a Star Sports’ Cricket Connected show, Gambhir said that it is important for a selector to have an experience of international cricket. But, the same doesn’t go for the coach to be successful. As per him, the coach will not teach any kind of basics to any international cricketer.

Gambhir added that the mentor uses himself as a catalyst to enhance the performance of a player. The 38-year-old also cited the fact that no coach in the world teaches his player how to play reverse lap stroke in the match. It is just their confidence and mindset that force players to improvise their game.

“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. 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,” Gambhir said in the Star Sports telecasted show.

“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,” he added.

The former World-Cup winner recited that the coach’s work is just to free players mind and give them the liberty to express themselves on the field, “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,” he asserted.