“It hasn’t happened many times in India that we start talking about the bowler,” Gambhir said. “I think it has always been about batsmen, batsmen and batsmen. At one point of time, India was a batting-obsessed nation. And you have to give credit to Bumrah, (Mohammed) Shami, (Mohammed) Siraj, (R) Ashwin, (Ravindra) Jadeja that now they are changing that intent to a bowling-obsessed nation… not a bowling-obsessed nation that we start talking about the bowler.”
“Bumrah is the best fast bowler in the world in all three formats. And it’s not just his performance, it’s also his hunger. The best thing is that he wants to play as much Test cricket as possible.”
Gambhir: ‘I want India to adapt and learn quickly’
Gambhir has been leading a very successful Test team and even though he has not been a coach at any level, he believes that the relationships he has built with the Indian players over 12 years as an opening batsman across formats will help him in this task. He has not set any other target for himself apart from winning matches for India.
“I have always believed that the best style is the one that wins and we want to be a team that adapts and learns quickly rather than adopting one style. Because if you start adopting one style, there is no development. We want the players to play according to the situation, the circumstances and then keep moving forward every day. And that is what matters the most. You know, all this, naming a certain style and only playing in one way, see, ultimately results are everything in the game. And the best, as I just mentioned, the best style is the style that wins.”
Given that this is India’s home season and the Test match against Bangladesh will be played in Chennai on Thursday, a lot of focus will be on the spinners. Gambhir explained how he would select the spinners.
“Obviously, first of all it is what impact they can make on the first day and the fifth day,” he said. “India have been very fortunate that we have players like Ashwin and Jadeja. They have bowled very well together and we know how they can contribute on the first day. Because the most important thing for Test cricket is that you should have the ability to bowl defensively and at the same time you should also have the ability to bowl aggressively. So I think we will have an attack that can take 20 wickets and both these players will definitely make a lot of impact in Indian conditions.”
India have never lost a Test to Bangladesh, but Gambhir has been careful not to let that affect his preparations for Thursday’s match in Chennai. “You don’t change your intensity by looking at the opposition,” he said. “International cricket means do you have the hunger for every session, every hour, every ball? Because, at the end of the day, when you are playing for your country, and when the other 15 players are playing for their country, they are good and anybody can beat anybody. So, if you think you should change your intensity by looking at Australia or England, I think no high-quality team does that. And, that shouldn’t be done. A champion team is one that sets its own standards.
“Bangladesh has some great cricketers. Shakib (Al Hasan) has experience. Mushfiqur (Rahim) has experience. You have a very good bowling attack as well. There is Mehdi (Hasan Miraz) as well. So we know Bangladesh has talent. But the important thing is that we have to be ready from ball one. And that is the expectation from all of us in the dressing room.”
“The best style is the one that wins and we want to be a team that adapts and learns quickly rather than adopting one style. Because if you start adopting one style, there is no growth”
Gautam Gambhir, India head coach
Gambhir is very happy with the talented players he has to work with. “The best thing is that in the last seven-eight days, since my first tour to Sri Lanka, I have noticed one thing, how much all the players sitting in the dressing room love playing for India. We always say that players love playing IPL. But, there is not much truth in it. After all, when you represent your country, there is nothing bigger than that.”
“There is so much quality in this batting line-up that we can play any opposition team, any bowling line-up, any spin attack in any conditions,” Gambhir said. “It happens that we often assess (ability to play spin) by looking at T20 and one-day cricket; there is a lot of difference between the two. In one-day cricket, you don’t get a lot of time to defend. In Test cricket, you have time to defend and make the bowler bowl to his strengths. But, the most important thing is if you want to play well in Test cricket, how strong is your defence?
“We have played on such good wickets in the T20 format that sometimes it feels like you have to develop a lot of shots. But the basis is your defence. When we started, any young player was taught to defend. If your defence is strong, you can develop everything on that defence. But, if you feel you have all kinds of shots and if you want to become a good Test cricketer, there is no guarantee.”
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
