LISA STHALEKAR: Gautam Gambhir says IPL has made India and Australia players too close ahead of Test series

The IPL has done two things – vastly increase the bank accounts of the world’s best cricketers and it has also softened relationships between once fierce national rivals.

The former is pretty obvious, the latter is an observation Indian cricket coach Gautam Gambhir made to me during a speaking event in Perth on Tuesday night.

They say being the Australia cricket captain is more important than being the prime minister, so I am not sure what that makes the Indian cricket coach – something between prime minister and deity.

The Indian coach cut a relaxed figure despite having the weight of expectation of more than a billion people on his shoulders as his team looks to reverse an embarrassing Test form slump against their fiercest red-ball rivals on Friday.

We got a fascinating insight into what makes Gambhir tick at the event to raise important funds for Encephalitis International.

And for those in Perth on Friday night, you will also get a chance listen to the “Voice of Indian Cricket” Harsha Bhogle at Perth Town Hall in aid of the same cause.

Gambhir, who has already traded barbs with former Australian captain and my Seven commentating colleague Ricky Ponting over Virat Kohli’s form, wants to see his troops fire up against their IPL teammates from Down Under.

He said players getting to know each other well on the big money T20 circuit meant the rivalry between the two countries was not the same as it once was.

Several former players have made the same observation about this change in international cricket.

Gambhir wants to instil a bit of mongrel back into the rivalry and given that he can’t control what happens on the field, maybe he can do so with what he says at press conferences and interviews throughout the series.

It will be fascinating to watch, as Ponting and another former Aussie skipper Tim Paine have already called him a “prickly character”.

When I asked him about those comments he didn’t hesitate to reiterate that he will always stick up for his team so his players can prepare the best way they can.

Several pundits have said the turmoil of Indian cricket may be the undoing of this side, who are back on Australian soil looking to win their third Border-Gavaskar Trophy on the trot.

The home series loss to New Zealand and losing to Sri Lanka in white ball cricket hasn’t been the brightest start for the new head coach.

Add to that Rohit Sharma is still in India due to his wife giving birth to their second child, and the injury to Shubman Gill, and you sense that Gambhir won’t go down without a fight. He will do everything in his power to ensure that India have a successful tour.

As a player I would love to play under Gambhir as I know that he has my back. He is loyal through and through and has great situational awareness.

I have seen this firsthand when he moved from KKR to Delhi Daredevils (as they were known then), he had struggled with the bat at the top of the order as captain in 2018. At the age of 36 he stepped down as captain after six matches, anointing Shreyas Iyer to take over.

It is believed that he gave back his salary and stayed on to assist with the team. I rate that immensely as it shows that it isn’t about money, or ego. His intentions seem pure.

I first interviewed Gambhir in 2015 while covering the IPL.

It was my first match at Eden Gardens in front of 70,000 screaming fans, when the Kolkata Knight Riders were on a high having won the title the season before.

My first interview with a player was Gambhir on the ground. I was nervous, I had no idea what I was doing, and I couldn’t hear a damn thing because of the noise and my headset wasn’t working correctly.

So, I faked it. Every time I saw him take a break I assumed he must have finished answering my question. Thankfully it was only a few minutes long, yet it felt like an eternity for me.

The other night was completely different, I wasn’t as raw as I was in 2015, plus the setting was intimate and very relaxed.

Straight off the bat, I was able to get him to smile and laugh a little. A victory that I was extremely happy with, as he is known to never crack a smile.

One of my first questions was, “was it written in the stars that cricket was to be your destiny?”

His answer surprised me a little.

Yes, was his initial response, but he went a little deeper. He wanted to attend the NDA instead of the NCA. What is the difference? One is the National Cricket Academy that began in 2000 in Bangalore and the other was the National Defence Academy, which he believed were the true heroes of his country.

Gambhir has always stood by his troops. In 2023, things got tense between King Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Naveen-ul-Haq (Lucknow Super Giants).

At the end of the match Gambhir, who was the mentor of LSG, had a frank discussion with Kohli about the incident.

Now he is looking for Kohli to use that same fire against Australia.

The West Test starts Friday 12.30pm AEDT live and free on Channel 7 and 7plus.