Although Gautam Gambhir’s tendency to shuffle players has frequently drawn criticism, the head coach maintained that “batting order is overrated” in white ball cricket, strongly implying that he will continue to follow his tried-and-true methods.
In the just finished ODI series, Ruturaj Gaikwad, a specialist opener, was forced to bat at No. 4 due to the combination, and all-rounder Washington Sundar has consistently floated in the lineup. However, Gambhir had his reasons.
In the post-match press conference in Visakhapatnam after India sealed a 2-1 ODI series win over the Proteas, Gambhir said, “I think in a one-day format, you should know the template that you want to play with. I’ve always believed that in white-ball cricket, batting orders are very overrated, except the opening combination.”
“In Test cricket, obviously, you’ve got to have a fixed batting order, but it (batting order) is very, very overrated (in white ball formats),” he added.
He used Washington, who has batted at different positions in every match, as an example to further his argument.
“See, you’re talking about someone who’s got 100 at Manchester, a 50 at Oval who averages, what, 40-plus in Tests. Sometimes, you’ve got to look at balance as well. I know it’s tough on someone like Washi, but then I think he’s done an incredible job, batting at No. 3, No.5, No. 8.
“That’s the kind of character he is, and that’s the kind of character we want in that dressing room, who are willing to do everything for the team with a smile on his face, which me as a batter knows how tough it is,” said Gambhir.
“I’m sure he’s going to continue doing that and we’re going to keep developing him because he’s got a massive future ahead for Indian cricket,” he added.
Gambhir admitted that dew had a significant impact on how all three of this series’ ODIs turned out, but he wasn’t shocked.
“We know that during this time of the year, toss can play a massive role because when you’re bowling first or when you’re bowling second, there’s a lot of difference. Our bowlers felt that in the first two games. We saw what our batters did when we were batting second. So yes, there is no doubt that there is a lot of difference. But we still had to play good cricket today,” he said.
Dew, according to Gambhir, might not have an effect on games in the next five-match Twenty20 International series.
“Look, it probably won’t affect T20s much because both teams will get dew, as in one-day cricket, the team that bowls first doesn’t get dew at all. The team that bowls second gets a total of 50 overs of dew.
“But in T20, when the match starts at 7 o’clock, the dew is the same for the team. Maybe the team that bowls second will get a little more dew, but both teams will get it,” he added.
