"It could be a shorter tenure than Greg Chappell's" - Simon Doull feels Gambhir would be sacked if India lose 4-1 or worse in Australia 

Former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull feels that Gautam Gambhir could lose his post as Team India head coach if the Men in Blue are beaten convincingly in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar series. The former India opener is on thin ice after some poor results since taking over from Rahul Dravid, a few months back.

Gambhir's tenure as coach began with a 3-0 whitewash over Sri Lanka in a T20I series away from home. However, Rohit Sharma and company faced a 0-2 loss in the ODI series soon after. Despite positive results against Bangladesh across formats, the team reached a new low after a Test whitewash at the hands of New Zealand on home soil.

Some questionable selection calls and poor response by players in terms of performance have led to the spotlight being cast on Gambhir ahead of the five-match Test series against Australia.

“It could be a shorter tenure than Greg Chappell's tenure in charge of India. We have all either play alongside him or sat with him, we know he can be that gruff type of character. Is it what India need at this moment? Well, they certainly feel they do. He has the history and the backing to be able to sit down with those players and talk to them about how to play the game and how Test cricket works," Simon Doull said on Sky Sport Cricket (via The Hindustan Times).

"But it's a tough ask, and its a huge series coming up. He's never going to be friendly with the media, but if he embraced it a little more, he could end up having a bit of a cult following. But not sure he's going down that road. And if he doesn't get the results in Australia, or its a 4-1 or 5-0, I don't know if his job continues," he added.

Greg Chappell, the former Australian cricketer, had an infamous stint as Team India's head coach from 2005 to 2007. The two-year stint included a slew of controversies, including a drawn-out feud with skipper Sourav Ganguly. His reign came to a crushing end as Team India were knocked out of the 2007 ODI World Cup in the group stages.

Gambhir's current contract runs up to the 2027 ODI World Cup campaign. There were murmurs of split coaching being potentially considered by the management, but it died down after the former player was appointed as head coach across formats.

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"It was an odd dig at Ricky" - Nasser Hussain on Gautam Gambhir's verbal spat with Ponting

Prior to Team India's departure to Australia, Gambhir spoke to the media. He was asked about Ricky Ponting's recent remarks on ICC Review about Virat Kohli's concerning form. In typical fashion, the head coach dismissed the former Australia captain's opinion, and asked him to stick to cricket in his country instead.

Ponting also issued a response after he was dragged into controversy, and labelled Gambhir as a 'prickly' character.

Sharing his take on the verbal duel between Ponting and Gambhir, former England captain Nasser Hussain said:

“It's a complete flip because they went from Dravid, who was more affable on the outside, but tough as nails inwardly, while Gambhir is angry on the outside and quite calm in the dressing room. But it was an odd dig at Ricky, who was only asked to comment on Virat, and now has been told to speak only on Australian players. That will be a tough ask as a pundit in an India-Australia series,” Nasser Hussain, who was a member of the panel along with Doull and Atherton, remarked (via Hindustan Times).

Team India have had stable coaches in recent times, with the likes of Gary Kirsten, Duncan Fletcher, Ravi Shastri, and Rahul Dravid all departing after fulfilling their contracts.