“The win percentage is 33.33” - Ex-Indian cricketer opens up on India’s poor red-ball record under Gautam Gambhir

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra has opened up on the ‘not so great’ numbers of Gautam Gambhir in red-ball cricket as Team India head coach, stating that the Indian cricket team is still in transition.

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Notably, Team India won the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 under Gambhir. However, his record as red-ball coach is not that great. Notably, under Gambhir, India lost 0-3 to New Zealand at home before losing 1-3 to Australia away from home.

India went on to defeat Bangladesh by 2-0 at home and drew the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England 2-2 away from home. Chopra asserted that the Indian team is going through a transition period, which is painful.

“Gautam Gambhir has been the coach in 15 Tests, of which India have won five, lost eight, and two have been drawn. The win percentage is 33.33, which is not great. However, it’s also true that India are going through a transition in Test cricket, and transition is painful,” said Chopra on his YouTube channel.

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“India have struggled a little in Test cricket. What happened against New Zealand was slightly surprising and worrying. That was definitely bad. In that backdrop, you went to Australia, and Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s Test careers ended there. They didn’t retire there, but they didn’t play Test matches after that,” he added.

Furthermore, Chopra felt that the transition is not yet fully completed despite the young Indian team levelling the five-match Test series against England. Notably, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retired from the longest format of the game ahead of the England tour.

“The transition is not yet fully completed. A young gun team has been prepared which went and drew the series in England. A new captain scored 750 runs at No. 4, KL Rahul got established as an opener, and things are looking up one more time. The start wasn’t good. Not qualifying for the Test Championship was a serious blow, but things have started looking up now,” he concluded.

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