Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir has laid out his goals for the T20I team, highlighting adaptability, dynamism, and a readiness to change course when necessary. The World Cup-winning former opener boldly declared that his squad will aim to maintain only the opening slots unchanged and that batting order is overrated in the shortest format.
Gambhir emphasized that even well-known players need to be flexible and that it is the coaching staff’s duty to create a dynamic team in a T20I environment that is constantly changing.
“That has been the ideology from day one. When I took over as head coach in Sri Lanka till now, it has not changed,” Gambhir told the BCCI in an interview after India’s 2-1 series triumph in Australia.
“Batting orders are very overrated, except the two openers. The rest, I think, shuffle because it’s not the amount of runs that matters in T20I cricket. It’s the impact that matters. People sometimes miscalculate or do not differentiate between runs and impact. In T20Is, it’s all about impact — it’s 120 balls, each ball is an event. And that’s why every ball needs to have the maximum impact we can have. That’s the reason, from day one, we’ve had a very fluid batting order. And that’s how we want to play this game as well.
“We don’t want to play this game thinking about averages and strike-rates and all that stuff. We are thinking about how much impact a player can make in what situation. I think that’s going to be very important for this team,” he said.
Particularly during the just finished five-match T20I series in Australia, where India continued to experiment with their batting lineup, Gambhir has come under fire for chopping, rearranging, and shifting batters.
“I think, with time, T20 cricket will evolve. If we, as coaches, don’t evolve, we will be behind the eight ball. We want to be ahead of the times in T20I cricket. The young boys have adapted well to this idea. Hopefully, they continue adapting and evolving.”
India used three batters at No. 3: skipper Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson (for one game), and Shivam Dube (for one game), while Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma began all five games. Suryakumar and Tilak Varma each made two appearances at No. 4.
The skipper and team management clarified that the squad was experimenting to find strengths and weaknesses ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup, in response to questions about why India’s Asia Cup star, Tilak Varma, did not have a prolonged run in the top four.
Before the T20 World Cup, which is expected to start in the first week of February, India has ten more Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is): five against South Africa and five at home against New Zealand.
Gambhir emphasized that developing players like Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, and Axar Patel is essential for both the T20 World Cup and the overall growth of Indian cricket, attributing the team’s adaptability to their presence.
“How many teams have the luxury of having these kinds of spin all-rounders? When we go overseas, sometimes we don’t get the luxury of seam-bowling all-rounders. Imagine when touring sides come to India — we have got people like Axar and Washi, they can bat and bowl, they can get into a side purely as a batter as well. Imagine, it’s a great luxury to have. They are going to be very, very important come the World Cup. With the quality they have, they are going to flourish in all conditions,” he said.
Gambhir praised Washington Sundar’s progress, stating that it was satisfying to give him a longer run and see him return the favor.
Under Gambhir’s leadership, Washington—who had previously fluctuated in and out of the senior squad—has established himself as a regular in all three formats, while players like Shivam Dube are getting regular chances.
“That’s why involving Washi in the last seven or eight months has been a huge success for Indian cricket. Axar, batting at No. 5 in the Champions Trophy, has done exceptionally well. He bowls tough overs, bowls in the powerplay, bowls in the middle.
“It’s always better to have more options. So many times in the past, we have worried about the sixth bowling option. We have now got seven or eight bowling options. For years and years, we have been talking about guys who can give a couple of overs, be it in a T20 or 50-over game. Now, we have guys who can give us overs and bat in the middle overs as well. It’s good to have those kinds of options and, more importantly, if these guys keep growing, Indian cricket will be in a very healthy space,” Gambhir said.
