'No one teaches you how to hit a lap shot or a reverse lap shot, no coach can do that. If someone is trying to do that to a player, he is harming him more than actually making him a better player.'
Gautam Gambhir reckons that playing international cricket is not a prerequisite to become a successful T20 batting coach, whose job according to the former India opener is to help players cultivate a positive mindset.
The cricketer-turned-politician said that a batting coach can be appointed exclusively for the shortest format of the game.
"Probably you can just have a different T20 batting coach, just for that particular format. It is really not true that someone who hasn't played international cricket or who hasn't played enough cricket, can't become a successful coach," Gambhir said on the Star Sports show Cricket Connected.
"What ultimately a coach does in a T20 format is frees your mindset and feeds your mindset and make you hit those goals and those big shots," he added.
The World-Cup winning opener said that job of the batting coach in T20 cricket is not to teach how to hit shots.
"No one teaches you how to hit a lap shot or a reverse lap shot, no coach can do that. If someone is trying to do that to a player, he is harming him more than actually making him a better player."
Recently, former all-rounder Yuvraj Singh had questioned India batting coach Vikram Rathour's ability to guide Indian cricketers in the T20 format.
Rathour, who played six Tests and seven ODIs for India between 1996 and 1997, had replaced Sanjay Bangar as the Indian team's batting coach last year.
"He (Rathour) is my friend ... do you think he can help players of this T20 generation? Has he played cricket at the level to help them?" Yuvraj, who was part of the 2007 World T20 and 2011 ODI World Cup winning teams, said during an Instagram session earlier this month.
However, Gambhir is of the opinion that being a successful player helps become a better selector.
"It's not important that you have played a lot of cricket, for you to be a very successful coach - probably, that's right for a selector, but not for a coach."
