Do India need split coaching? After Gautam Gambhir's 'stick to domain' comment, World Cup-winning captain gives his verdict

NEW DELHI: Former Indian men's cricket team captain Kapil Dev on Thursday chose not to back the idea of split coaches after India’s recent 0-2 Test series defeat to South Africa at home. He said the BCCI should follow whatever coaching system suits Indian cricket best.

Asked if having separate coaches for red-ball and white-ball formats could help India address their recent Test losses at home, Kapil said: "I don't know... I can't answer that. You have to really work something like that in your mind and say what should happen. Whatever is good for cricket, I think they should do it."




Kapil, who led India to the 1983 World Cup title, also disagreed with the suggestion that sport is tougher in the social-media era.
"No, it's always the same. It was difficult then, it is difficult now. It was easy then and it is easy now. Your mindset is more important," he said.

On whether the financial pull of T20 leagues affects national representation, Kapil said players decide based on their own priorities.
"Everybody loves money, but some players feel that is very important. I still feel playing for India is more important than playing IPL. But everybody is individual, they have their own thought process. Good luck to them."

Asked about his preferred format, Kapil said he enjoys all versions of the game. "I just love cricket. Doesn't matter even two balls cricket or 100 balls or 100 overs or 10 overs... cricket is cricket."

The world cup winning captain also made a light comment on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma when asked about their performances.

"Good luck, they should play golf also," he said. Kapil is currently the president of the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI).

Kapil was speaking at the launch of '72 The League', a city golf event announced by PGTI for next year. He said India needs golfers who can win major global events to change how the sport is viewed in the country.

Kapil's comment on split-coaching came in the light of Gautam Gambhir responding to the criticism that followed India’s 2-0 Test series defeat. Addressing a press conference after India won the third ODI against South Africa last week, Gambhir said the reaction to the Test losses ignored key details. He said: "There were so many things said and written after we lost the Test series against South Africa, but nobody spoke about the fact that in the first Test we played without our captain, who didn't bat in either innings (Shubman Gill, who was out after playng three balls in the first innings due to neck injury) and we lost the match by just 30 runs. If you are going through a transition and lose your captain, who is also an in-form batter, it's tough. No one talked about this."

Gambhir also responded to comments made by Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal, who had called for split coaching in Indian cricket after the Test series defeat. Gambhir said: "A lot was said. Even people who have nothing to do with cricket spoke up. An IPL owner also wrote about split captaincy." He added: "Everyone should remain in their domain. If we don't interfere in other's domain, then they don't have the right to interfere in our domain".

Jindal had criticised India’s Test performance after the 2-0 loss against South Africa. He posted on X: "Not even close, what a complete thrashing at home! Don’t remember seeing our test side being so weak at home!!! This is what happens when red ball specialists are not picked." He also wrote: "This team is nowhere near reflective of the deep strength we possess in the red ball format. Time for India to move to a specialist red-ball coach for Test cricket."