Former India batter Gautam Gambhir believes there is nothing wrong with the Indian T20 team transitioning away from senior players such as skipper Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli as long as players and management communicate openly.
Sri Lanka will be touring India from January 3 to January 15 for three T20Is and three ODIs. The tour comprises three T20Is and as many ODIs.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya will lead India’s T20I squad against Sri Lanka in the three-match series to be held in Mumbai. Suryakumar Yadav has been named vice-captain of the Indian T20I team. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul are not part of India’s T20I squad.
“There should be clarity. There should be good communication between the selectors and these players. If the selectors have decided to look beyond these guys, so be it. I think a lot of countries have done that,” Gambhir, the former India batter, told ESPNcricinfo during an interaction facilitated by Star Sports on Thursday.
“We make too much of a hue and cry when the selectors and management look beyond certain individuals. Ultimately, it’s not about the individuals, but how you want to go about your plans for the next [T20] World Cup [in 2024], because you want to go in there and win it. If these guys haven’t been able to achieve that, I think you never know. People like Suryakumar, the younger generation can go on to achieve that dream,” he further added.
Gambhir emphasised the importance of having clear plans in place for the 2024 T20 World Cup, and he is having difficulty seeing Rohit, Kohli, and Rahul fit into those plans right now.
“Personally, if you ask me, it looks tough. People like Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan should all be in the mix. Hardik Pandya is there, I’d like to try to get guys like Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tripathi and Sanju Samson into the mix. They can play fearless cricket,” Gambhir said.
“We’ve spoken so much about the template and stuff going into the previous [T20] World Cup, that we want to play at a certain template, that we want to play aggressive cricket, but when it came to a crunch game [semi-final against England], all that template went out of the window. Probably the new generation of cricketers might be able to achieve that template and play the T20 cricket everyone wants India to play. So I feel, if these guys continue to do well in the opportunities they get, it will be difficult for the rest of the guys who have been rested or probably been dropped,” he added. (ANI)
This report is filed by ANI news service. TheNewsMill holds no responsibility for this content.
