‘Betterment of Indian cricket is important, Gambhir is not important’

NEW DELHI: Gautam Gambhir addressed his first press conference as Team India alongwith chief selector Ajit Agarkar in Mumbai on Monday ahead of the Sri Lanka tour that starts on July 27.
Known to be a team man to the core since his playing days, Gambhir laid importance on taking the team forward saying that he has inherited a very successful team.
Putting aside all the limelight on him, Gambhir said, “Betterment of Indian cricket is important, Gautam Gambhir is not important”.
The 42-year-old Gambhir takes over from batting great Rahul Dravid, who finished his stint with the T20 World Cup title in Barbados last month.
On the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after the T20 World Cup title triumph, Gambhir said, “Now that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will play only two formats, I expect them to be available for most games. They still have a lot of cricket left in them”
With the Indian cricket calendar getting busier day by day and Jasprit Bumrah being rested for the Sri Lanka tour, Gambhir said, “Workload management is very important for all fast bowlers, not just for Jasprit Bumrah.”
Gambhir also declared that his much talked about relationship with Virat Kohli “is between the two of us and not for TRPs”.
Gambhir added, “We have had lots of discussions and everyone has the right fight for their jersey.”
In IPL 2023, Kohli and Gambhir, then the mentor for Lucknow Super Giants, had a fierce on-field altercation, but this season, it seemed they had left the past behind.
Making it clear that Ravindra Jadeja has only been rested for the Sri Lanka tour, Gambhir said, “Hopefully we can do well in 10 Test matches and someone like Ravindra Jadeja is very important in those games.”
Laying his importance on winning matches, Gambhir said, “A happy and secure dressing room is a winning dressing room. In sport, it’s all about winning, in our profession there’s only one winner”
“T20 team will go through a transformation but there will not be three different teams for different formats,” Gambhir added.
Making it clear that he likes to keep things simple and thanking the BCCI for agreeing to his requests, Gambhir said, “I don’t like complicating thing and ultimately it is player’s team with our job is to make players happy.”
“Happy with BCCI, they have given me most things that I asked for. Will get to know exact support staff after Sri Lanka tour,” Gambhir added.