{"id":31034,"date":"2026-05-07T13:36:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/2026\/05\/07\/gautam-gambhirs-tough-tactics-in-the-dressing-room-spark-discontent-among-players-claims-ex-cricketer-atul-wassan\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T13:36:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:36:01","slug":"gautam-gambhirs-tough-tactics-in-the-dressing-room-spark-discontent-among-players-claims-ex-cricketer-atul-wassan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/2026\/05\/07\/gautam-gambhirs-tough-tactics-in-the-dressing-room-spark-discontent-among-players-claims-ex-cricketer-atul-wassan\/","title":{"rendered":"Gautam Gambhir&#8217;s Tough Tactics in the Dressing Room Spark Discontent Among Players, Claims Ex-Cricketer Atul Wassan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/>India&#8217;s head coach, Gautam Gambhir, is facing new criticism despite his successful start, thanks to bold remarks from former Indian bowler Atul Wassan. Wassan expressed concerns about Gambhir&#8217;s management style, calling him a bully and suggesting that his tough approach has caused unease among several senior players.<\/p>\n<p>So far, Gambhir&#8217;s time as coach has been successful, especially in white-ball cricket. Under his leadership, India clinched both the Champions Trophy in 2025 and the T20 World Cup earlier this year. However, these achievements have been marred by rumors of discord within the team, especially following the unexpected retirements of stars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from Test cricket during the IPL 2025 season.<\/p>\n<p>Wassan, who has observed Gambhir\u2019s journey from his early days, noted that Gambhir\u2019s aggressive demeanor, which made him an exceptional batsman, may not be serving him well as a coach. Speaking with Vickey Lalwani, Wassan reflected on their history, saying, \u201cHe has always been about my way or the highway. He can be quite bullying, even in local cricket.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He further described Gambhir\u2019s approach as one that insists on total obedience. \u201cHis ego is on a different level. If he says it\u2019s night when it\u2019s morning, he expects everyone to believe it. If you don\u2019t agree with him, you\u2019re on his bad side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>### THE KOHLI SITUATION<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest challenges for Gambhir has been his relationship with Virat Kohli. Although the two previously attempted to improve their rapport through an interview, rumors of a rift still linger. Wassan believes this tension stems from their similar aggressive styles. \u201cThat\u2019s why he has issues with Kohli\u2014two strong personalities can clash,\u201d he said, humorously adding that Gambhir might even argue with the windows in his home.<\/p>\n<p>While successful coaches are often shielded from criticism, Wassan indicated that the atmosphere within the Indian team isn\u2019t entirely positive. He claimed that Gambhir\u2019s \u201cstick-over-carrot\u201d method has fostered a fear-based environment. \u201cNot every player can be truly happy. Some must feel anxious,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you lead with fear and keep winning, things might seem fine, but if the team loses, the coach will have to face the music.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although he didn\u2019t name names, Wassan hinted that the dissatisfaction runs deep. \u201cI know a few players who are unhappy, but they won\u2019t voice it. Everyone knows what\u2019s going on. If the coach manages to win while ignoring those issues, he will seem right, and the players will appear wrong.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>As the season unfolds, only time will tell how these dynamics will impact the Indian cricket team and Gambhir&#8217;s future as its coach.<br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India&#8217;s head coach, Gautam Gambhir, is facing new criticism despite his successful start, thanks to bold remarks from former Indian bowler Atul Wassan. Wassan expressed concerns about Gambhir&#8217;s management style, calling him a bully and suggesting that his tough approach has caused unease among several senior players. So far, Gambhir&#8217;s time as coach has been<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[21891,40376,1675,772,1379,4741,903,28301,904],"class_list":{"0":"post-31034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-atul-wassan","9":"tag-bullying-claims","10":"tag-champions-trophy-2025","11":"tag-gautam-gambhir","12":"tag-india-cricket-team","13":"tag-india-dressing-room","14":"tag-rohit-sharma","15":"tag-t20-world-cup","16":"tag-virat-kohli"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}