Gautam Gambhir has taken over the responsibility of Team India's head coach from the Sri Lanka tour. After sitting on this hot seat of the Indian team, his biggest mission is to win the Champions Trophy. But, how will this mission be accomplished? The T20 world champions are victims of the biggest weakness in ODI cricket. In the last 3 years, this weakness has dominated them to such an extent that now the level has gone down even below Pakistan. It is clear that if the new head coach Gambhir does not remove those weaknesses now, then forget about the Champions Trophy.

What needs to be done has to be done now!

India last won the Champions Trophy title in 2013. After that, in 2017, it had to face defeat in the final at the hands of Pakistan. Since then, this will be the first edition of the Champions Trophy, which will be played in February-March next year under the hosting of Pakistan. Team India neither has much time to prepare for it nor many matches in hand. Therefore, whatever needs to be done, it has to be started.

Gautam Gambhir is facing a big problem, Baba, a big problem!

Obviously, in such a situation, the role of head coach Gautam Gambhir becomes important. He needs to work harder. So that Team India does not have to face the same weaknesses in the Champions Trophy to be played in this format next year, which it is facing right now in ODI cricket. Now the question is what is that weakness? So this is the same weakness which Team India is facing right now in Sri Lanka. And, in which its level has been shown to be lower than Pakistan in the last 3 years. We are talking about the weakness related to the talent of the Indian team.

The level is lower than Pakistan, will we win the Champions Trophy like this?

If we look at the last 3 years i.e. from 2021 till now in ODIs, Indian tailenders have scored runs at an average of just 13.4 per wicket. During this period, the 8th to 11th number batsman has scored 976 runs in 38 innings. On the other hand, the per wicket average of Pakistan's tailenders has been 14.3 and Bangladesh's 14.9 during this period. Even the tailenders of Sri Lanka, with whom Team India is currently playing an ODI series, have an even higher per wicket average. Sri Lankan tailenders have scored runs at an average of 16.1 per wicket in ODIs since 2021.

Bad condition in ODI series against Sri Lanka too

If you see the performance of Team India's tailenders in the first series being played under Gautam Gambhir's coaching, you will be surprised. While Sri Lanka's tailenders have scored 204 runs in the first two ODIs of the series at an average of 40.8, Indian tailenders have been able to add only 94 runs to the team's scoreboard during this period at a meagre average of 11.75. To ensure that this difference seen in ODIs against other big teams does not become a headache for Gautam Gambhir, it is important to eliminate it before the Champions Trophy 2025.