Former India worldwide Gautam Gambhir careworn upon the necessity of bringing in additional Indian coaches within the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Speaking on the TURF2022 & India Sports Awards of FICCI, Gambhir admitted that the IPL is the perfect factor to have occurred to Indian cricket. “One good thing that has happen in Indian cricket is that Indians have started coaching the Indian National Cricket team now. I strongly believe Indian should coach the Indian team. All these foreign coaches, who we gave a lot of importance to, come here to make money and then they vanish. Emotions are important in sports. The only people who can be emotional about Indian cricket are the ones who have represented their country,” Gambhir mentioned.
“I am a mentor of Lucknow Super Giants. One thing I want to change is that I want to see all Indian coaches in IPL. Because no Indian coach gets opportunity in Big Bash or any other foreign leagues. India is a superpower in cricket, but our coaches do not get opportunity anywhere. All the foreigners come here and get the top jobs. We are more democratic and flexible than other leagues. We need to give our own people more opportunity,” he added.
Having been a part of the IPL since its inception in 2008, Gambhir has been one of many profitable captains of the event – main Kolkata Knight Riders to the title glory twice.
He is at present the mentor of the Lucknow outfit. “IPL is the best thing that has happen to Indian cricket. I can say this with all my senses. There has been lot of backlash regarding IPL since it started. Every time Indian cricket does not do well, the blame comes on IPL, which is not fair. If we don’t perform well in ICC tournaments, blame the players, blame the performance, but it is unfair to point fingers on the IPL,” Gambhir mentioned.
He additionally spoke on how there’s monetary safety amongst gamers on account of IPL, which helps within the improvement of extra gamers on the grassroots degree.
“A sportsman can only earn till he is 35-36. IPL provides with financial security which is equally important,” he mentioned.
Asked about who he sees as the present poster boy or poster lady of Indian sports activities, Gambhir mentioned that everybody representing the nation is a poster boy. He additional pressed the necessity for the state governments to undertake the Odisha mannequin and decide up one Olympic sport to advertise.
“Sports is going to play a massive role in development of India. There is a need to engage young children with sports and physical activities instead of their electronic devices. Every state should pick up one sport like Odisha has done with Indian hockey. See where hockey has gone today. I know sports ministry is doing a lot and corporates are getting involved, but if each state picks up one sport and completely focuses on that, imagine where our Olympic sports are going to be,” Gambhir mentioned.
“If it is my way, probably the BCCI should also go on and give 50 percent of revenue to all other Olympic sports, though it is not my way. Because 50 percent of revenue that is generated out of cricket is enough for cricketers. But the rest of the 50 percent can actually pick up all the other sports,” he signed off.