"My job is not to make everyone happy": Gambhir on picking from India's deep T20 squad

Gautam Gambhir has heard the noise about who plays and who sits out, and he is not going to let it pick his teams. Speaking to broadcasters before Sunday’s final T20I against New Zealand in Hamilton, India’s head coach said his task is to make the right decisions, not the ones that please the most people.

“First of all, my job is not to make everyone happy,” Gambhir said. “My job is to take the right decisions, not the popular decisions. And that is what I’m there for.”

He pointed to the chatter on social media. “It is very easy to take the popular decision,” he said. “But for me, I think the important thing is to take the right decision and make sure that there is a lot of security inside the dressing room.”

The depth he spoke of was on show at the toss. India left out Axar Patel and Mayank Yadav for Sunday’s game, and the teenage opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi again stayed on the bench. Gambhir said those who have performed over time deserve a longer rope. “Guys have done phenomenally well over a longer period of time,” he said.

A short turnaround

He also praised the way the squad settled in New Zealand at short notice. India finished their previous series at home on 17 October and flew out a day later. “Obviously we had one practice session. Got to give it to the boys, the way they adapted to the conditions,” he said, adding that many of them were in the country for the first time.

With India already 3-1 up, Gambhir would not treat the last match as a formality. “I think there are no dead rubbers in my philosophy, in my ideology, and exactly the same is in the room as well,” he said. “When you’re playing for your country, there is no complacency.”