Never thought about winning World Cup as a coach, Gambhir

India head coach Gautam Gambhir said winning the T20 World Cup as a coach was an unexpected privilege and credited the team’s fearless approach, adaptability in batting positions and key performances, including Sanju Samson’s crucial innings, for the tournament triumph.

Hyderabad: Gautam Gambhir, head coach of the victorious Indian team in the recent ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, said he could never have imagined winning a World Cup as a coach.

“I never thought I would get the opportunity or privilege to be the head coach of the Indian team because it’s an absolute privilege to again wear the India jersey or do something special for the country,” Gambhir said during a special show on JioHotstar.

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“When your mom wishes you and tells you ‘well done’, that’s what you play for and what you live for as well. What bigger feeling is there than making 140 crore Indians proud,” the former India opener said.

“I’ve always believed that, and I’ve always told the boys as well, that being in that dressing room is a privilege, not an entitlement. Thousands of people would want to be in my position as the head coach of the Indian team, and many would want to be in the position the players are in,” Gambhir said.

On the team buying into the fearless approach, Gambhir said: “I think more than the win, it was the way the boys adapted to the ideology and philosophy of being high-risk, high-reward. From day one, I had a very strong belief that the T20 format is about impact. It’s not about milestones or individual performances.

“It’s about going out there and creating an impact, whether it’s on the field, with the ball or with the bat. The simple ideology throughout this World Cup was that if we could stay in the present and try to control each delivery. Whatever has gone will never come back, you cannot control what’s gone and you cannot control what’s going to come in the future,” the head coach said.

“All you can control is that one particular delivery. Even if you get hit for five sixes, the next delivery could be the game-changing moment. Eventually, it can boil down to something like that. For example, in the semi-final against England national cricket team, it boiled down to seven runs, one hit,” Gambhir said.

On the turning point of India’s campaign, Gambhir said: “It’s very difficult to say, but I still believe that Sanju Samson’s 97 against West Indies cricket team was the turning point of this campaign because it was a virtual quarter-final and someone was making a comeback after not playing four or five matches before the Zimbabwe national cricket team game. Chasing 195 in a virtual quarter-final, irrespective of the ground, in a World Cup game, is never easy,” he said.

“With the ease and the calmness with which he batted, I think it gave us a lot of confidence in the group that now, probably, we are on the right track. Before that, there was a lot of talk that we play very aggressively in the bilaterals but not in the ICC tournaments. After the West Indies game, when Sanju got going and how Ishan Kishan batted at three, I thought that a lot of things actually started taking shape,” Gambhir said.

On one aspect from India’s tournament win that will stay with him for a long time, Gambhir said: “One thing which will stay with me for the rest of my life is how comfortably and with how much ease the boys adapted to and accepted the batting positions. And it started from the captain. Against England in the semi-final, Shivam Dube got promoted and Suryakumar Yadav was absolutely fine with it.

“In the final, Hardik Pandya was promoted and the captain was fine with it. Many times in the past we’ve seen that people want to bat at a certain position, but it wasn’t the case with this team. Tilak Varma started at number three, then he batted at five, six and even seven, and the same with Shivam, who batted from number four to seven,” Gambhir said.

“That is what team sport is all about. This is the ideology. Jasprit Bumrah, how can I not mention him? He started with the new ball, bowled in the middle and bowled the tough overs as well. So all those guys, at different stages in this competition, were given different roles and how beautifully they adapted and adopted whatever role was given to them,” he signed off.