Ravi Shastri considers the appointment of Gautam Gambhir as the new India head coach to be "refreshing" due to Gambhir being "contemporary" and bringing "fresh ideas" to the role.

"He's contemporary, he just had a great season in the IPL," Shastri said on Gambhir on the ICC Review. "I think he's the right age where he's young, he'll come with fresh ideas. He knows most of the players, especially in the white-ball format, having been part of teams in the IPL. So I think it's refreshing.

"And we know with Gautam, he's a no-nonsense guy. He'll have his ideas as well. And the good thing for him is he's got a mature team. He's got a settled team, a mature team. I think even though you might think you're mature, you might benefit from some fresh ideas. So I think it'll be interesting times."

Gautam Gambhir takes over from Rahul Dravid following India's victorious T20 World Cup campaign, with his first assignment being the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, starting with three T20Is on Saturday in Pallekele.

Gambhir assumes the role in all formats, fresh off an IPL win with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) where he served as team mentor. He was credited with rallying the players, making the strategic decision to have Sunil Narine open the batting again, and boosting newcomer Harshit Rana's confidence, among other achievements. With the Indian team, Gambhir faces the significant task of managing both junior and senior players across all formats. 

"Obviously, player management becomes the key as a coach," Shastri said. "So it'll be interesting to see how he goes. I think he's got the tools, he's got the goods for the job and he's got the experience."

"It's a question of just understanding his players as quickly as possible," Shastri said. "What their strengths are, what kind of human beings they are and what kind of temperaments do they have. What are their personalities. A lot goes behind the scenes to understand a human being.'

"I think that will be his most important task, which I think again should not be a problem because he's contemporary. He's seen these guys from the outside, he's dealt with a lot of guys who might have played with KKR as well and for Lucknow [Super Giants] when he was there.

"And he's been around the circuit, the moment he finished cricket - and that was not too long ago - and he still is around, plays a lot of the legends cricket as well."

In Tests, Gambhir's major assignments include five home Tests starting in September (two against Bangladesh and three against New Zealand), followed by a five-Test series in Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy. In the white-ball formats, he will be aiming for the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025 and the T20 World Cup in 2026.