Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir blamed the players' lack of playing together for a sustained period as the key reason behind their long-time ICC title drought, heading into the 2023 ODI World Cup. The Men in Blue had pulled off three ICC titles - the 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy in quick succession.However, despite entering most of the tournaments as favorites, India struggled to crack the code for winning an ICC title from 2014 to 2022. The Asian giants would dominate the league stages on several occasions, only to fall in the knockouts.Talking about India's ICC title debacle a few months before the home ODI World Cup in 2023, Gambhir told Star Sports (via Times Now):"They got to play together. I think the biggest mistake that Indian cricket has made in the last two World Cups has been that these guys have not played enough cricket together. Tell me, how many times have we got the best playing 11 on the park? We haven't; only during the World Cup we decided to have the best playing 11, but unfortunately, that was never the best playing 11."He continued:"So, these guys have to play enough of white ball cricket, especially for the 50 overs World Cup together irrespective of whether they want to take a break from the T20 or from the IPL. If they want to take a break, people who play more than three formats, they can definitely take a break from T20 cricket, but surely not from the ODI format. If the franchisee has to suffer, they have to suffer. Indian cricket is the main stakeholder, not the IPL. IPL is just a by-product."Unfortunately for Team India, their ICC title drought continued in the 2023 World Cup, as they suffered a heartbreaking loss to Australia in the grand finale.Gautam Gambhir's first ICC tournament as head coach ended in gloryGautam Gambhir's first ICC tournament as Team India head coach culminated in glory, with the side winning the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai. Having finally broken their ICC title slump with the 2024 T20 World Cup triumph, the Men in Blue made it two ICC titles in a row earlier in the year.Gambhir was under pressure as India lost consecutive Test series to New Zealand and Australia at the end of the 2024 season. However, the side responded by running through the table in the league stage of the Champions Trophy, winning all three games.They overcame their knockout demons from past ICC ODI tournaments, defeating Australia and New Zealand in the semifinal and final.