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But Gambhir, who consistently backed the seniors to come good, remained unfazed. When questions were raised about his fixation of left-right combinations, or having multiple all-rounders, or

preferring KL Rahul over Rishabh Pant or even picking two spinners and three spin-bowling "all-rounders", the coach stuck to the template he wanted. On Sunday, even though he

might not necessarily have said it in as many words, he would have felt vindicated to some extent in Dubai. "From day 1, we were clear in our mind that we want six bowling options, even

if that means we compromise with our batting power. Because bowlers win your tournaments, batters only set up the tournaments. And batters only win you matches but bowlers win you

tournaments," he would explain in a chat with the broadcasters. What this win also does is kickstarts an important cycle post the Indian Premier League with both captain and coach

beaming with confidence. While there is no question on his ODI credentials, Sharma, who is the Test captain as things stand, has had a poor run in the longer format. What will be interesting

to see is how the head coach and captain take the way forward with a new World Test Championship cycle getting underway. That is, however, a matter for May 2025 perhaps. For now, Gambhir

and his staff have ticked off one major box in their checklist. It's time to savour that before moving on to the next one.