He's a guy that has the conviction and courage – Andy Flower on Gautam Gambhir

RCB head coach, Andy Flower, has found a handful of impressive characteristics in the current Indian head coach, Gautam Gambhir. The pair worked together in the IPL, with both of them a part of the Lucknow Super Giants dugout for the first couple of seasons.

After watching India bag their first T20I series under Gambhir’s coaching with a game to spare, Flower labelled the World Cup winning former Indian vice-captain as someone who can inspire the team extensively.

As quoted by ESPNCricinfo, Flower said, “He's certainly got some of the characteristics of a successful coach. He hasn't really coached, though, has he? He is not your conventional coach. It would probably be better to describe him as an inspirational leader than a coach. That might be more accurate.”

Andy further added, “He's a guy that has the conviction and courage of his own beliefs and principles that will allow other people to really want to follow him. Followers or teams like to trust that their leader has the courage of his convictions. And GG definitely has that. He has strong opinions. He knows where he wants to go. He's willing to make tough decisions. He will have a very clear idea of the type of cricket that he wants his teams to play."

The Zimbabwean legend also pointed out the biggest demarcation between coaching a franchise and a country, stating, “The biggest difference between the two jobs [franchise and international cricket] is that in the international arena, you are developing a team, and you are developing individuals with a medium- to long-term outlook. Franchise cricket is more about short-term results and getting a bunch of disparate individuals together heading in one direction and believing in something in a very short space of time.”

He concluded, “Whereas in international cricket, you have just more time for individual development and to develop a deeper culture in the group. [Gambhir] will be doing three formats, so those might differ a little. They might have different captains, for instance, different senior players, but the tenets and principles of the culture and the unit that you are developing across three formats will be similar.