Sanjay Manjrekar has doused all the hype surrounding Gautam Gambhir as the two-time World Cup winner is all set for his first match as captain of the Indian cricket team. Gambhir, who replaced Rahul Dravid, has huge shoes to fill and while there's plenty of noise and expectations about the new coach's tenure, Manjrekar has urged the onlookers to take it easy. Reminding the fans, players and broadcasters with a not-so-subtle take, Manjrekar reiterated just who this game is all about – team over individual.

Manjrekar ensure that the pages of Indian cricket history are brushed through. The four times that India have won the World Cup, only twice did they have specialised coaches. Hence, the need of the hour, as Manjrekar points out, is to pay all the attention to the Indian cricket team as a whole, rather for individuals to channel all their energy on the newly-appointed Gambhir.

"No coach, Lalchand Rajput, Gary Kirsten & Dravid. Coaches when India won WCs in 1983, 2007, 2011 & 2023. It's really about Indian cricket, not who the coach is. Time we stop thinking there is a direct correlation," Manjrekar tweeted.

When Kapil Dev's daredevils lifted the Prudential World Cup – the third ever by stopping the West Indies juggernaut – India did it without a head coach. Team India then had to wait for 24 years to win their second World Cup when a young brigade under MS Dhoni defied all odds and emerged world champions in the first ever T20 World Cup in 2007. Six months prior, India endured a first-round exit in the 50-overs World Cup in West Indies, and as Greg Chappell was sacked from his position as head coach, India went to South Africa with Lalchand Rajput as the team director.

Coaches came and went but…

Four years later, under Gary Kirsten, India won the ODI World Cup after 28 long years and the Champions Trophy under Duncan Fletcher in 2013, but then went on a barren 11-year-long streak of not winning a single ICC trophy. In between, Ravi Shastri took over as India coach, and while the achieved many a high under him, a World Cup win wasn't one of them. India came close to winning three World Cups – in 2015, 2019 and 2023, but luck eluded them. The deadlock finally ended last month as India gave Dravid the perfect farewell, winning the T20 World Cup only for the second time.

Soon after, Gambhir, whose appointment was merely a formality, was officially announced as Dravid's successor. Having recently led Kolkata Knight Riders to a third IPL title as mentor – he had captained them to title wins in 2012 and 2014 – Gambhir coming on board has really spiced up the Indian cricketing circuit. As Indian cricket slowly transitions into the Gambhir-Suryakumar Yadav era, with the batter being appointed the new T20I captain of the team, there is no shortage of excitement. But as Manjrekar highlighted, the lesser the chatter, the better are the chances of Team India succeeding.

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