Indian Team Suffers Big Blow Ahead Of England Series, Team Member Returns To India
Head coach of the Indian team, Gautam Gambhir has returned to the home country due to a family emergency.
Published : June 13, 2025 at 2:41 PM IST
|Updated : June 13, 2025 at 4:16 PM IST
By Nikhil Bapat
Hyderabad: India head coach Gautam Gambhir has returned to his home country from England just a few days before the start of the Test series between India and England. Both the teams will square off in a five-match series. The series marked the first assignment for Shubman Gill as India’s full-time captain in Test cricket.
A BCCI source told ETV Bharat, "He (Gambhir) left a day before (for India) for a family emergency."
It is understood that Gautam Gambhir’s mother had suffered a heart attack and that is the reason he has to travel back home. His mother Seema Gambhir suffered a heart attack on June 11 and thus, the Indian head coach had to leave the tour midway to fly back to his home country.
It is likely that he will now join the team on June 17, just three days ahead of the opening Test at Headingley, Leeds.
India will be playing the Test series for the first time after the retirements of the trio of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin from the longest format. Thus, the five-match series will mark the resumption of a new era with the leadership duo of Gambhir and Gill in the Tests.
The head coach looked pumped up during the preparation of the series which was seen in the multiple practice videos shared by the BCCI. His credentials as the head coach of the Indian team are under scanner after a string of poor results including a clean sweep in the Test series against New Zealand at home and a 3-1 series defeat to Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. In such a scenario, Gambhir will aim to turn things around with a series win in England.
Just before the start of the series, India will play an intra-squad warm-up game between India and India A. The Indian head coach has opted for a closed-door session.
Before departing for England, the head coach, who took over the reins from Rahul Dravid, asserted that he is always under pressure, irrespective of whether the team wins or loses.
