Since their Cape Town ball-tampering scandal in last March, the Australian cricket is largely focusing on the spirited cricket along with re-building the national side. However, the former Indian opening batsman Gautam Gambhir feels Australia shouldn’t change their complete aggressive identity.
On Monday (December 10), at the event of RBL Bank’s Umeed 1000 Cyclothon, Gambhir told, “Australia should play the same way they have always played; one scandal should not change their complete identity. They have always played their best when aggressive. There is nothing wrong in it as long as you do not get personal. Humans are bound to show their emotions. Robots do not play professional sport.”
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The 37-year-old Gambhir, who just retired from the professional cricket, admitted that the Indians also sledge their opponents like the other big teams. He further added that Australia has been punished for their ball-tampering incident and now everyone should focus on cricket.
Gambhir added, “I have been sledged and I have sledged also. It is not just the Australians and South Africans who do. Indians sledge too. The banter is always good and keeps everyone on their toes. Australia did something wrong [ball tampering scandal] and they have been punished for it. Let’s not make too much of a hue and cry.”
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After the end of the first Test of the four-match Test series between the hosts Australia and the visitors India at Adelaide, India has taken the 1-0 lead after winning the close game by 31 runs. While Gambhir hopes the best for the Indian cricket team in this series, he also reminded that Australia can’t be taken lightly at any moment.
The former Indian opener said, “We now have the early advantage which we never had on the previous two tours. Hope we can consolidate. But you can never take Australia lightly. They still have the bowling attack to hurt any opposition.”
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During his international career, Gambhir and Virender Sehwag were one of the best Test opening pairs in the world. But at present, the current Indian opening batsmen are hugely struggling in Test cricket. However, Gambhir believes that there is no issue at the present moment as he feels it is the toughest job in Test cricket and need to be patient with them.
Gambhir spoke about the opening batsmen, “You’ve got to be patient with them. Facing the first ball on the first day is probably the toughest job in Test cricket. If it was easy everyone could have done it. A lot of greats who got 10,000 to 15,000 runs never opened in Tests.
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“I believe in security. If you keep rotating players for what is the toughest thing to do, you only make them more insecure. Give them a proper run and see if they belong to the level. If they don’t, get somebody else and give them the same run. You have to be fair to everyone.”
