5 big takeaways from Gautam Gambhir's pre-departure press conference for BGT 2024-25
The Indian team will depart for Australia to play in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Monday, November 11. The five-Test series will begin on Friday, November 22, and India will get 10 days to acclimatise themselves to the conditions.
A group of five players - Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar, and Yashasvi Jaiswal - had already boarded the flight, while the rest are expected to leave later. Skipper Rohit Sharma is believed to not be on either flight.
This is due to a personal reason that Sharma has expressed to the BCCI, and which might even rule him out of the first Test, to be played at the Perth Stadium. However, it is not confirmed yet, and things will get clear only before the game.
Head coach Gautam Gambhir addressed the media ahead of the team's departure to Australia, and made several key statements regarding his players and the conditions they will expect Down Under.
In this listicle, we take a look at five big takeaways from Gambhir's press conference:
#1 No concerns about Kohli and Sharma
One of the biggest statements Gambhir made in the press conference was about the relative concern, or lack thereof, regarding Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Both of them have been in extremely poor form with the bat in hand in Test cricket, and calls have grown louder from many sections of the media for their omission.
Although Sharma started the year with two centuries against England, Kohli last scored a Test century sixteen months ago in the West Indies. Hence, a lot of people have voiced their concerns about the latter's place in the side. However, Gambhir firmly shut any questions down in the conference.
"I have got no concerns whatever over Virat and Rohit. I think they are incredibly tough men. They've achieved a lot for Indian cricket, and they will continue to achieve a lot in future as well. I think for me, the most important thing is that they still working really hard, they are still passionate, they still want to achieve a lot more and that is something which is very important," said Gambhir.
#2 Not thinking about transition
Gambhir also emphatically shut down any rumors that the Indian team was in transition and that the management was planning to do away with the current crop of players and bring younger ones into the picture.
The 43-year-old mentioned that the idea of 'transition' had not even crossed his mind, and that he was only focused on the team doing well in Australia. He mentioned that the team was single-minded in its focus.
"Look, honestly I'm not even thinking that the team is in transition and that kind of stuff. The only thing that is there at the moment in my mind is we go to Australia to play five Test matches. And I've said that there are some incredibly tough people in that dressing room who have to achieve a lot of good things in the future as well. For me, I think they're still very hungry and till the time they're very hungry, I'm sure that they've got a lot of fire to achieve a lot of success for the nation," said Gambhir.
#3 Acceptance of being outplayed by New Zealand
Gambhir made no bones about the fact that India were completely outplayed by New Zealand in the home series that they lost 0-3 recently. The coach even went as far as to say that the Kiwis were better than the Indians in all three departments.
The former Delhi man accepted that India did not play their best cricket against New Zealand, and as a result, were not able to perform well against them. However, he also said that India will take all the criticism they are getting with both hands and look to improve.
"I am not going to sit here and defend [the loss against New Zealand]; I think we were outplayed in all the three departments. They were more professional and we accept that. And I think the criticism what we are receiving, we take it with both hands and we keep moving forward, keep getting better every day," said Gambhir.
#4 The challenging conditions in Australia
Gambhir mentioned that India will not have an easy task playing against Australia in their own backyard, but that the experience of the players who have been Down Under before will surely help the youngsters out.
The likes of Kohli, Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj have all done well in Australia in the past, and their expertise will help out Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan and the other youngsters.
"The first and foremost challenge is obviously the conditions. In these ten days, if we can get good, proper preparation before the start of the series, I think we are going to be in a really good shape. And we've got a lot of experienced players who've been to Australia a lot many times. Their experience will come in handy for the young players as well. These ten days are going to be very crucial but come 22nd morning, I think we should be absolutely ready to fire from ball one," said Gambhir.
#5 KL Rahul might open in case Sharma is not available
A major point that Gambhir zeroed in was the presence of KL Rahul in the side. While the Karnataka batter has excelled in the middle-order position he was given, Gambhir mentioned that Rahul might be an option to open the innings in case Rohit Sharma is not available for the first Test in Perth.
It was also due to this thinking that Rahul was asked to play in an unofficial Test against Australia A recently. Although he was not able to score runs in it, this showed the line of thinking of the team management, who, despite having Abhimanyu Easwaran in the squad, want to back Rahul.
"Imagine how many countries have players like KL who can open the batting and can bat at No. 6 as well? So I feel if need be, he can do the job for us, especially if Rohit is not available for the first Test match," Gambhir said.