ISLAMABAD: Indian cricket head coach Gautam Gambhir has come under public scrutiny following allegations that he spent nearly five million Indian rupees (approximately $17,500) on paid public relations campaigns to “neutralize” online criticism after India’s latest series defeat in Australia.
Social media is abuzz with chatter that, Gambhir allegedly spent 4.9 million rupees on PR efforts following the team’s 0-2 loss in Australia. Of this amount, around 3.6 million rupees was reportedly used for paid activity on X (formerly Twitter).
"The same guy who used to criticize others for doing PR is now doing the exact same thing,” one popular cricket account posted on X, citing a so-called “JIT report” as the source of the information.
Another X user, going by the handle @Jod_insane, shared what he claimed was a screenshot of a message from a PR agency offering him 3,000 rupees for every 100,000 views on tweets praising Gambhir. Several users also pointed to coordinated posts from known cricket fan accounts defending the coach in recent weeks.
Gambhir as coach
Since taking over as India’s head coach 15 months ago, Gambhir’s tenure has been marked by inconsistent performances. While India India suffered rare Test series defeats — a 0–3 whitewash at home against New Zealand and a 1–4 loss away to Australia — and managed only a draw against a struggling England side. The team also failed to reach the World Test Championship final for the first time.
In limited-overs cricket, India lost an ODI series 0–2 to Sri Lanka and another to an understrength Australian side missing several key players.
Political backdrop
A former India opener and World Cup winner, Gambhir retired from international cricket in 2018 before entering politics. Backed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he was elected to parliament from East Delhi in 2019 and served until 2024, when he resigned.
Gautam Gambhir, who retired from international cricket in 2018, entered politics soon after by joining the RSS-backed ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was elected as the Member of Parliament for East Delhi in 2019 and served in that role for the next five years. In March 2024, Gambhir stepped down from his political position.
Interestingly, just a couple of months later, he was appointed as the head coach of the Indian cricket team. The decision was confirmed by then BCCI Secretary Jay Shah — the son of India’s Home Minister and a confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Gambhir is the youngest head coach in Indian cricket history. His critics believe he was given the role on political favoritism – an accusation also echoed by famous Indian cricket journalist Vikrant Gupta.
“Gautam Gambhir is running this team like a political party — playing players on quota, ‘two yours, two mine,’ Gupta can be heard saying in a video. "Adam Zampa took four wickets while India’s best spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, was warming the bench," he added, criticizing Gambhir's flawed team selection that he believed was the reason for India's second consecutive defeat against Australia.
While many fans are bashing Gambhir and accusing him of paid PR, other accounts are negating the notion, insisting they weren’t “paid” to tweet in his favor.
“Just because I tweeted in support of #GautamGambhir doesn’t mean I’m doing paid PR for him. The man who runs a community kitchen feeding over 5,000 people every day doesn’t need my post to clean his image,” a user @selflessCricket wrote on X.
Another user, @HitmanCricket, clarified that his praise for Gambhir was entirely genuine and not influenced or paid for in any way.
While the allegations of paid PR remain unverified, the controversy adds another layer of pressure on Gambhir, who is already facing criticism over India’s declining performances under his leadership.
