According to Gautam Gambhir, recognition of all contributions, no matter how modest, is the fundamental component of team sports and has long been lacking in Indian cricket.
The Indian head coach said that no one would have mentioned Sanju Samson’s game-winning 97 against the West Indies on Sunday if Shivam Dube hadn’t hit two boundaries in the penultimate over.
According to Gambhir, every contribution will receive an honorable mention as long as he remains the coach.
“Glad you’re talking about every contribution because for many years, we’ve only spoken about certain contributions. This is a team sport, and this will always remain a team sport. For me, Shivam’s two boundaries are as important as Sanju’s 97 because if he hadn’t hit those two boundaries, you won’t even spoken about it (97-run knock). The big contribution makes headlines. The small contribution, the contribution that can help the team win, cross that line, are very important,” PTI quoted Gambhir as saying.
Gambhir has emphasized his team mindset, and there won’t be any unique contributions as long as he is present.
“And that’s why I say that this is going to be the philosophy going forward till I am there.”
While the majority of coaches worldwide would agree that data plays a significant role in Twenty20 cricket, Gambhir adheres to the traditional approach of using intuition.
“I don’t believe in data, honestly. I’ve never seen the data. I don’t even know what data is all about. I absolutely do not believe in it, because I feel it’s more about instinct. T20 cricket is about instinct and backing your instinct as well. Whatever knowledge I have about the game and T20 format, I try and probably give it to the captain, try and help him out as much as I can. But ultimately, it’s the captain that takes the final call. But data and all, I don’t believe honestly, because it’s very over-rated. For me, I think we are very fortunate that we’ve got world-class players,” Gambhir said but his comment was surprising since the team relies much on data analyst Hari Prasad.
“We’ve got guys who we can use differently, because not many teams have that luxury. Imagine someone like Jaspreet (Bumrah) or Arshdeep or even Varun, we can use them at any phase of the game. And from the batting point of view, you’ve got power. That is something which is very important. When you’ve got power, you’re never away from the chase. You’re never out of the game as well,” Gambhir added.
Gambhir described Wankhede as a very difficult stadium and Harry Brook’s team as “world class” during the semi-final match against England.
“They (England) are a world-class team, they’re a quality team, they’ve got a lot of quality players as well and we all know that Wankhede is a tough venue. Hopefully, we can turn up and see that we have another opportunity to do something special for the team, for the country and hopefully we play a best game as well. That is going to be very important,” Gambhir said.
