Gautam Gambhir likely to continue as India's all-format coach till 2027 ODI World Cup

Gautam Gambhir has been on the firing line ever since he took over as India's head coach. While the team managemed to win the Champions Trophy and Asia Cup in 2025, the fortunes in Test cricket have been shambolic. It doesn't help Gambhir's cause that India are in the transition phase as far as Test cricket is concerned.

Losses at home to New Zealand and South Africa alongside the series defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia have all dented Gambhir's resume. If not for Mohammed Siraj's phenomenal spell at The Oval, India may well have lost the five-match Test series in England by a 1-3 margin. Instead, that ended 2-2, giving some respite to Gambhir.

While speculations are there about possible split-coaching philosophy in Indian cricket, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have strongly denied this chatter. A day after secretary Devajit Saikia maintained that there have no discussions to change Gambhir from Test coaching setup, Vice-President Rajeev Shukla has gone one step further, stating that Gambhir will continue across formats till 2027.

This means that the ODI World Cup in 2027 could be the last chapter of Gambhir's current contract and the BCCI understandably wants to back him across formats till that showpiece event in South Africa. After the 2026 T20 World Cup in February-March, India's preparation priorities will shift to ODI cricket, with Test cricket not in the schedule till June.

Afghanistan are scheduled to play a one-off Test in June while India are slated to visit Sri Lanka (2 Tests) in August and New Zealand (2 Tests) in October-November. Clearly, the volume of Test cricket in 2026 is quite low for India and hence, Gambhir's spot as all-format coach isn't a major concern for the BCCI amidst the flurry of white-ball cricket.