Former England spinner Monty Panesar has recently been busy commenting on Indian cricket, and according to him, Gautam Gambhir lacks the experience needed to coach across all three formats. These comments came following Gambhir’s poor form in red-ball cricket.
Panesar has named former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh as an assistant and batting coach for the Indian team, considering his wide experience across all formats for India. The left-handed batting all-rounder from Punjab represented India in all three formats.
India have failed to advance to the ICC World Test Championship Final in 2025 under Gautam Gambhir’s era and has faced two crushing defeats under home conditions. After their recent loss to South Africa, Indian fans have been left infuriated with the national head coach.
Gautam Gambhir is not going anywhere till the 2027 World Cup – Reports
Loud claims have been made about Gautam Gambhir’s sacking from the position of Indian National Team coach for the red ball format. India were not only defeated but also left humiliated by the Proteas in the matches.
India were bowled out for less than 100 runs while chasing a timid target of 124, which left India shattered. Gambhir’s strategies have not paid off in the longest format of the game, which has led to the demand for his sacking.
However, considering his success in limited-overs cricket, the news from the BCCI’s end is that Gautam Gambhir is going nowhere until the 2027 World Cup, till which time he has signed a contract with the BCCI.
Yuvraj Singh gets backed to join Gautam Gambhir’s coaching team
The idea of split coaching has been favoured by many former cricketers as well as cricket fans, as they want Gautam Gambhir to continue in white-ball cricket but would like to explore new options in Test cricket.
In a recent conversation with Ravish Bisht, on being asked his opinion about Gautam Gambhir and Brendon McCullum’s sacking from their respective teams for the betterment of Test cricket in India and England, former England spinner Monty Panesar said that India should bring on board a more experienced star for Test coaching.
He named former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh for the role and credited him for handing India modern-day superstars like Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill.
Monty Panesar @montypanesar backs @YUVSTRONG12 as new batting coach for Team India if India wants to do well in all formats #yuvrajsingh #teamindia pic.twitter.com/Ad2Q13pZff
— Ravish Bisht (@ravishbofficial) December 30, 2025
Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir Stats Comparison in First-Class cricket
After Monty Panesar remarked on Gautam Gambhir’s lack of first-class experience, he credited Yuvraj Singh as the experienced one. Comparing the stats, Yuvraj Singh managed to play in 60 Test innings for India, while Gautam Gambhir played over 100 Test innings, scoring 4154 runs in his career, while Yuvraj could manage only 1900.
In a vast First Class career, Gautam Gambhir has featured in 198 matches and amassed 15153 runs, while Singh has played 139 matches and amassed 8965 runs. Yuvraj was undoubtedly one of the greatest India List A cricketers; however, Gambhir is not far behind.
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