‘It is very easy for me to take popular decisions, but it is probably the toughest thing for me to take the right decisions. And we’ve taken the right decision of continuing with Sanju and Abhishek.’
IMAGE: Gautam Gambhir with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi during India’s nets session. Photograph: BCCI
Key Points
- Gautam Gambhir has communicated to 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi that he must wait for his chance in the Indian T20 team despite his strong recent performances.
- Gambhir emphasised that team selection is based on performance and combination, not external pressure or social media, to maintain security within the dressing room.
- The coach believes it would be unfair to drop established players like Abhishek Sharma or Sanju Samson after a few failures, advocating for continuity and backing key players.
- Gambhir praised Shreyas Iyer’s selfless leadership, highlighting his willingness to sacrifice his batting position for the team’s benefit during their time at KKR.
Gautam Gambhir said he has spoken to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and made it clear why he will have to wait for his opportunities in the Indian T20 team.
The 15-year-old Sooryavanshi further strengthened his case for a regular spot in Indian team’s playing XI in T20 Internationals with a vital knock of 38 from 21 balls on a difficult pitch in the Asian Games semi-final against Sri Lanka.
He had also scored a couple of half-century in the T20I series in Zimbabwe, while playing a few good knocks for East Zone in the Duleep Trophy.
Earlier this year, Sooryavanshi became India’s youngest international cricketer at 15 years and 99 days and the youngest debutant from a Test-playing nation in T20Is when he made his debut against England in Manchester. He has made a bright start to his international career, scoring 246 runs in eight matches at a strike rate of 186.36 with two fifties.
Despite Sooryavanshi’s recent good form, Gambhir has made it clear in his conversations with the teenager that he is not a guaranteed starter.
‘It was a new experience for me as well. Yes, he was in good form, but I made him understand that sometimes, because of the players who have done well for a long time, he will have to wait for his opportunity,’ the India coach said on JioStar’s Follow the Blues ahead of the five-match T20I series against the West Indies, starting on Tuesday.
‘And there’s one more thing, social media or outside noise doesn’t decide the playing eleven. It depends on who in that dressing room, or who the coach and captain feel can win us the match, or what is the best playing eleven, and who have done well for such a long time.’
Gambhir believes it would be unfair to drop Abhishek Sharma or Sanju Samson, who played a key role in India’s T20 triumph earlier this year, after a few failures.
‘Because if Vaibhav plays today, then it’s going to be a tough conversation between me and whoever we leave out, whether it’s Abhishek or whether it’s Sanju. So, we can’t suddenly ignore a combination that has created such an impact over the last one-and-a-half or two years, and after three or four failures, drop them and play a young player who is very talented, who is also in very good form. So, sometimes you will have to wait for your opportunity because we want to create that security in that dressing room.’
The Importance of ‘Right Decisions’
Gambhir said it is tough to take the ‘right decisions’ but he is in favour of continuity and backing the right players.
‘It is very easy for me to take popular decisions, but it is probably the toughest thing for me to take the right decisions. And we’ve taken the right decision of continuing with Sanju and Abhishek. And no team in the history of sport has gone undefeated from one World Cup to the other and gone on to win the World Cup again.
‘Suddenly, one bad series or three bad games here and there does not make them a bad player or does not make us a bad side. So, it was very important for us to have that continuity.”
Shreyas Iyer’s Selfless Leadership Hailed
Gambhir hailed Shreyas Iyer as a selfless captain, drawing from his experience when the two worked together as mentor and captain respectively to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL title in 2024.
‘My first experience with Shreyas was when I actually went to KKR in 2024 where he was obviously captaining. And the best thing I liked about Shreyas was that he was actually willing to leave his batting position at times.
‘He was so flexible that he was okay if someone went ahead of him. And it happens very rarely that a captain, who is probably your main batter as well, sacrifices his position for the team’s cause, whether for someone else for impact or from a left-right combination point of view.
‘And that is when I realised that the first and foremost quality of a good leader is how selfless you are. Shreyas has that quality, and that is a massive tick that he can carry for the rest of his journey as a captain. Because you can be hardworking, you can be disciplined, you can be fit, you can be the number one batter.
‘But if you are not selfless, then all those other things stand for nothing. But Shreyas has got all of those things, and on top of that, he’s got that selflessness as well.’
