Team India's head coach Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli share thoughts together in never-seen-before chat and stress over importance of Tests & developing culture of competitiveness.
Gautam Gambhir’s era as India’s coach in Test cricket has begun positively. Ahead of the first Test against Bangladesh on September 19, Gambhir and Virat Kohli came together for a brief chitchat, “putting an end to all the masala.” Kohli mentioned that the two had their ups and downs, with Gambhir stating that it was all in “good spirits’. The two also spoke at length about the importance of Test cricket, how it turns boys into men, and the type of culture and mindset they are leaving behind for the next generation of players to follow and emulate.
Gambhir mentioned that when he first started playing cricket, his dream was to play Test cricket, which is the pinnacle of cricket. T20 cricket was not even conceptualised when he started playing professionally, he added. The head coach also said that the best way to judge a person is to throw him into Test cricket. “You don’t need to be the most talented cricketer to do well in Test cricket. You need discipline, patience, compassion, emotions, and sympathy. You fight for five days in Test cricket and still don’t know if you will get the result.”
Gambhir praises Kohli, the Test captain
Gambhir also praised Virat Kohli as Test captain for bringing in a culture where he turned a transitioning team in Tests into world-beaters. “It was like I’m 25, and we have a team of 25-year-olds, and how to become a team that are household names,” Kohli recollected. “I sat down and had to really plan this out. We need a group of fast bowlers; we need batters who can bat long; we need to give ownership to five batters and the keeper to get us 350 to 400 runs. We can’t have a seventh option to give cushion to the batters... I remember it (the challenge) excited me. This was the vision... and I guess that’s how you create culture in the change room.”
Praising a young captain in Kohli, Gambhir said what Kohli did brilliantly was that he built a strong bowling attack to win Tests. “You may have good batters, but you need bowlers to take 20 wickets in Tests,” he added.
And it is this culture that has helped India stay world-beaters in the longer version of the game, as India have successfully transitioned players without feeling the pinch of it. Hence, the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have made way for exciting young, talented cricketers in Shubman Gill and Sarfaraz Khan who have put a strong foot forward in Test cricket, replacing these stalwarts.
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Bowlers are key in Tests: Gambhir
Gambhir also spoke about the need to have a strong next generation of red-ball bowlers to do well in Test cricket. Speaking of the mindset of today's India fast bowlers, Gambhir said the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Mohammed Siraj just “love bowling. They can give you 20 overs or more in the heat of Chennai. Even the India spinners love bowling and can give you 30 overs. Only when you enjoy bowling, you’ll be motivated to play red-ball cricket.”
Overall, the two legends of the game were in sync that irrespective of the glamour of the T20s, it’s Test cricket that will judge a cricketer, and this format will stay alive and keep on kicking. The two gelling bodes well as they are important pillars of India’s Test cricket with a hectic season ahead.
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