Gautam Gambhir trains under Justin Langer in a bid to revive international career
Gautam Gambhir hasn’t been a part of international cricket lately. He has turned to Head Coach of the Western Australia and the T20 Perth Scorchers team, Justin Langer, to remedy this. Gambhir is training under him in Perth.
Earlier, Gambhir had thrived under personal attention from his childhood coach Parthasarathi Sharma. Sharma died in 2010, and Gambhir tunred to WV Rama, former Indian opener for some time before finally settling on Langer.
“I met JL during the last Champions League last year when he was touring with Perth Scorchers as their coach," Gambhir said, talking about his choice of coach. "We spoke about a few things, about my batting, and I realised that he could be my go-to man to work on my game.
"I'd read Langer's interviews and his books. I could relate to him a lot. He too is an intense character like me and these things pushed me to come here."
Gymnastics and martial arts married into the cricket programme: Gambhir
Gambhir has had a stellar international career. He has been a part of 56 Tests, 147 ODIs and 37 T20s till date. He has scored over 10,000 runs and has led Kolkata Knight Riders to victory twice, letting his bat do the talking. Last year, Gambhir was briefly recalled, but his performance in the two Tests against England was dismal. In his four innings, he scored 4, 18, 0 and 3.
In December 2012, India lost a home series to England. Gambhir knocked off 251 runs at an average of 41.83 in the four Tests. He was dropped from the Test team after this. As to his ODI career, he was excluded a month after this. When the list of 30 probable players was drawn up for the World Cup, Gambhir was not included.
It was thought that technical flaws have crept into his batting style over the years. However, Gambhir is not only improving his cricket skills now, he is also working on martial arts and gymnastics.
“The entire thing is beautifully married into the cricket programme and there is logic in what these guys do," Gambhir said. "After taking part in these sessions I understood that gymnastics was focused at helping the boys improve their fielding by making them do various stretches and martial arts was trained at bettering the footwork and agility of the players.”
Langer retired from international cricket in 2007. ECB’s cricket director Andrew Strauss approached him with the England coach’s job, but he refused the offer, preferring family time. He has led Western Australia to two Sheffield Shield finals and has helped them procure the domestic state one-day title this year. His T20 team has claimed victory over the last two Big Bash titles.
Though Gambhir is 33 years old and has been out of the international scenario for a while, he appears hopeful about the future. Whether his training with Langer brings about the desired results remains to be seen. Gambhir is in Perth till the second week of July.
You have to admire one that steps out of their comfort zone to rediscover themselves. Gambhir turns to Langer... http://t.co/I8BpHw3KBW
— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) June 28, 2015