"Not the Champions Trophy, but the England tour" - Aakash Chopra on Gautam Gambhir's future as India's head coach

Former India player Aakash Chopra reckons Gautam Gambhir's future as head coach might depend on the team's performance in the Test series against England later this year. He opined that the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 might be too early to judge his fellow Delhiite's performance as a coach.

India have enjoyed a great run in T20Is under Gambhir. However, they have struggled in ODIs and Tests, failing to qualify for the 2025 World Test Championship (WTC) final after a 3-1 defeat in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the cricketer-turned-commentator was asked whether Gambhir could be sacked as head coach if India don't do well in the Champions Trophy.

"I feel one more England tour. I don't think the BCCI will say anything to him until then. After the England tour, it will be a year since he took over the reins. You had to do the transition within one year. So how he did there, which players he prepared, and whether the team's performances have improved, a review can be done for him," he replied (5:00).

"However, at least one year at the job is absolutely important to review someone's performance. You need 12 months. So I feel not the Champions Trophy, but the England tour. That might just be a critical barometer or parameter based on which Gautam Gambhir's performance might be reviewed. It won't be a bad thing. You review the performances of batters and bowlers, so do it for the coach as well," Chopra added.

The Champions Trophy 2025 will be played in Pakistan and Dubai from February 19 onwards. India will subsequently tour England for a five-match Test series, starting in June.

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"Please do well because it is not a normal Champions Trophy this time" - Aakash Chopra to Team India

India won the Champions Trophy for the second time in 2013. [P/C: Getty]

However, Aakash Chopra acknowledged that India need to fare well in the upcoming Champions Trophy.

"Please do well because it is not a normal Champions Trophy this time. The 2013 Champions Trophy was also not normal because it was the start of a new era. It was entirely MS Dhoni's team. It had his imprint. He decided that he to make Rohit (Sharma) an opener, and he was made an opener just before the Champions Trophy," he said in the same video.

The former India opener pointed out that the Men in Blue are nearing the end of a transition period.

"He even bowled himself and there was a lot of focus on fielding. Shikhar Dhawan started becoming Mr ICC. India had gone through a transition by then. Here, it is the backend of a transition, where it seems like some players' performances are being keenly watched. We are not sparing their Ranji scores," Chopra observed.

Aakash Chopra expressed hope that Rohit Sharma and company do well in the Champions Trophy. He opined that Indian cricket might see a churning if the result doesn't go their way.