“Red Ball cricket demands sacrifice, discipline — not playing for the gallery”: Gautam Gambhir

[BouncerGuy]

Gautam Gambhir speaking during the post-game presser after losing the 2nd Test against South Africa:

"You don't blame one individual shot. You don't blame one individual playing in a certain way. You blame everyone. So, me talking about an individual, I've never done that. I am not going to do it."

"The reality is, we still need to improve a lot in red ball cricket. Whether it's mentally, whether it's technically, whether it's absorbing pressure, whether it's sacrificing, whether it's putting the team ahead of your individual self. And most importantly, not playing for the gallery."

"Ultimately when you go in, if you keep putting the team ahead of your own self, not thinking that this is how I play, and this is how I will get the results, and this is how I play, I don't want to play the second, I don't have plan B. So, sometimes, you will get these kinds of collapses as well."

"How much you care about Indian cricket and how much you care about the team and people sitting in the dressing room is important as well."

 

[shah_1]

Pant is the target

That shot in the first innings was atrocious

 

[BouncerGuy]

Pant is the target

That shot in the first innings was atrocious

Yep... That was against Pant... Pant plays poor shots at crucial moments to get out and leaves his team in trouble.

 

[Smbhayi]

Also limited skill (not sure hi did say that)

 

[BunnyRabbit]

This is poor from Gambhir not taking any blame for the team selection.
I have always maintained Pant shouldn't bat higher than 6 in tests. 3 4 5 have to be your best and most consistent batters in the team.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

He needs to take some blame on the selection and it shows his understanding of test match cricket is flawed if he believed you need players of limited skill

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Pant is the target

That shot in the first innings was atrocious

Yep... That was against Pant... Pant plays poor shots at crucial moments to get out and leaves his team in trouble.

Pant is above criticism because he has played some match winning knocks.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

He needs to take some blame on the selection and it shows his understanding of test match cricket is flawed if he believed you need players of limited skill

Gambhir is a narcissist.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

Also limited skill (not sure hi did say that)

I might be the only one on this forum but I agree with this statement. Test cricket is about having really tough mentality, doing the same thing over and over again until the other person breaks down.

 

[Smbhayi]

I might be the only one on this forum but I agree with this statement. Test cricket is about having really tough mentality, doing the same thing over and over again until the other person breaks down.

Tough mentality - yes, limited skill - BIG NO..

 

[RexRex]

It's time to get rid of Gambhir. I can't look at that sullen face and thick eyebrows anymore.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

Tough mentality - yes, limited skill - BIG NO..

Limited skill at the highest level doesn't mean limited skill as a whole. For example, between Mark & Steve Waugh, it was obvious who the better batter was & Mark had all the panache and grace but Steve was obdurate and head strong & hence a much better test cricketer.

Boycott, Mudassar Nazr, Shoaib Muhammad, Rahul Dravid, Pujara, etc. are players who would be outshined by their more glamorous counterparts like Gower, Zaheer Abbas, Saeed Anwar, Sachin, Kohli, etc. but these players are outstanding test cricketers in their own rights and always underrated.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Limited skill at the highest level doesn't mean limited skill as a whole. For example, between Mark & Steve Waugh, it was obvious who the better batter was & Mark had all the panache and grace but Steve was obdurate and head strong & hence a much better test cricketer.

Boycott, Mudassar Nazr, Shoaib Muhammad, Rahul Dravid, Pujara, etc. are players who would be outshined by their more glamorous counterparts like Gower, Zaheer Abbas, Saeed Anwar, Sachin, Kohli, etc. but these players are outstanding test cricketers in their own rights and always underrated.

He phrased it very poorly.

What you are saying is absolutely fine.

But it's very different from how Gavaskar put his point across.

The highest examples of test batsmanship are those players that are highly skilled - Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Viv, Sanga, Smith for example.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

He phrased it very poorly.

What you are saying is absolutely fine.

But it's very different from how Gavaskar put his point across.

The highest examples of test batsmanship are those players that are highly skilled - Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Viv, Sanga, Smith for example.

Such players are way too rare and outliers. Even for a cricket crazy nation such as India, there has only been one Tendulkar and one Gavaskar. West Indies haven't produced any test cricketer/batter of note after Richards and Lara and it has been decades since those two retired.

Test cricket will eventually change as well but at the moment it offers a place for obdurate stoic boring cricketers, cricketers who don't have the ability to play ten different shots to a single ball but play one boring shot over and over again very well.

I agree with the spirit of what Gambhir is talking about, he doesn't want 6 Pants in the team, he wants to have a Pujara, Rahane, Dravid, & then maybe a Pant or two.

 

[ElRaja]

pant is a match winner, he wins you matches by playing high risk shots, but he cant win you every match. his playing style was a luxury india could afford when they had a stronger team, but him being tageted is unfair because the rest of the quality of the team has gone down. with jaiswal and gill hes the only young player who is a red ball match winner.

also the limited skill comment is one of the most absurd things ive ever heard, did lara, punter, tendu, wasim, imran, ashwin have limited skill. gumbo talks a lot of rubbish for someone whos destroying one of the strongest test teams in the world.

 

[Savak]

Gambhir's "I am the most patriotic soldier in the country" attitude is very off putting and i can understand why people around him get suffocated by him.

 

[Obaidd]

Q: Viral Kohli or Rohit Sharma?
A: Washington Sundar

 

[hur rizvi]

Such players are way too rare and outliers. Even for a cricket crazy nation such as India, there has only been one Tendulkar and one Gavaskar. West Indies haven't produced any test cricketer/batter of note after Richards and Lara and it has been decades since those two retired.

Test cricket will eventually change as well but at the moment it offers a place for obdurate stoic boring cricketers, cricketers who don't have the ability to play ten different shots to a single ball but play one boring shot over and over again very well.

I agree with the spirit of what Gambhir is talking about, he doesn't want 6 Pants in the team, he wants to have a Pujara, Rahane, Dravid, & then maybe a Pant or two.

Being able to handle spin and pace in bowling friendly conditions is a skill in itself.

No matter how tough you are without that kind of skill you can’t make a good test cricketer

 

[gazza619]

India needs a level headed coach. Bring back Dravid!

 

[Cricket Warrior]

India needs a level headed coach. Bring back Dravid!

This Indian Test team cant win even under Sir Don Bradman.. they need to pick players on merit.. make Ranjhi as a production plant not the IPL

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Pretty poor throwing your own players under the bus. I have always maintained that Gambhir is not mentally mature enough to be head-coach. Infact, he is not mentally mature enough for any kind of leadership position in cricket. This guy belongs in politics...that's where he will fit right in.

Can't believe India went from Kumble, Shastri, Dravid to this clown.

 

[Tera Gawaandi]

He is wrong. A skill can be taught, but talent is gifted and innate.

Bumrah wouldn’t be Bumrah without his natural bowling action.

Sehwag was one of the laziest Indian cricketers, at times he didn’t even bother to complete his run and got run out. But he will always be ten times the cricketer Gambhir could ever dream of becoming. Sehwag was out there dreaming about aloo parathas on the field. Sehwag’s hand–eye coordination was so good it felt illegal. Once his eyesight started to decline with age, his batting began to suffer.

I don’t get why Gambhir is always talking about love for the country, sacrifice, character, and all that stuff. Does he even have any technical knowledge? Is he actually working on tactics and fixing issues behind the scenes? Why is he always making these emotional statements?

 

[Savak]

Gambhir was a bang average batsman, he got brutally exposed in the 2010-11 tour of Australia and then the England tour in 2014. A perfect flat track bully. Yes he played some ATG knocks in the 2007 T20 WC Final and the 2011 ODI WC Final but overall he was a flat track bully.