India’s recent plan to push a left-handed player up the order to break the right-handed dominance of the top-five has fierce backing from head coach Gautam Gambhir. However, India made some changes where in the three ODIs Axar Patel came to bat at No.5 in the second match where Dube fell for a duck. And, Gambhir opened up on this.
“That’s the way cricket is meant to be played,” Gambhir said after the series victory when asked about the ploy. “I know a lot of people talk about it, but that’s the way we’ve got to play the game and that’s the way cricket should be played. It’s not about the batting order. It’s about who can create what impact. And it’s about… if you have the option of putting a quality left-hander in the middle, why won’t you do that? Why would you want to have the top five as right-handers?”
“We don’t look at averages and stats and all that stuff. We look at who can deliver more at that number,” Gambhir said, while lauding Axar Patel for his stunning show as he scored 52 and 41* against England from No.5. “And Axar has done fabulously well. Both the games (against England) he got the opportunity, he delivered for us. I know there will always be people talking about it. But I think that’s the way we want to go in the future as well,” Gambhir said.
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India also surprised all with their selection decision in form of Varun Chakravorthy who gave England a tough time in T20Is. He was also added to the ODI squad and played in the Cuttack game. He was also added to the Champions Trophy squad in place of Yashasvi Jaiswal.
“Look, the only reason he (Varun CV) was picked was because we wanted another wicket-taking option in the middle,” Gambhir added. “And we know what Varun brings to the table, we know that Varun can be a massive threat. And with a lot of teams who haven’t played him, he could be an X-factor as well. I’m not going to say that he’s going to start and all that stuff, but it’s always good to have a strong bowling line-up because we know that if he can actually get those wickets in the middle, it’s always going to be an advantage. And that was one of the reasons. Otherwise, we know that Yashasvi has got a fabulous future ahead. It’s just that we could only pick 15,” Gambhir stated again.
“See, ultimately, it’s very difficult to talk about individuals. But all I can say is that if he [Rishabh Pant] is part of the squad, if the time comes, he might get an opportunity. But at the moment, obviously, KL is the number one wicket-keeper and he’s delivered for us. And see, when you’ve got two wicket-keepers in the squad, you can’t play both, with the kind of quality we’ve got. Hopefully, whenever he gets an opportunity, he should be ready for it. That’s all I can say. At the moment, yes, KL is the one who’s going to start,” Gautam Gambhir concluded.
