Exclusive | “Pandya Can’t Be The Third Seamer”: Gautam Gambhir

Watch Gautam Gambhir speak about India’s Test debacle in England, MS Dhoni’s spot in the ODI & T20 teams and more.

Gautam Gambhir speaks to The Quint.

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Editor: Vishal Kumar
Cameraperson: Abhay Sharma

India’s veteran opener Gautam Gambhir in an interview with The Quint said that the Indian team didn’t prepare well enough for the five-match Test series against England. India lost the first Test by 31 runs and then the second Test by an innings and 159 runs.

More than the last two results. The preparation has not been the greatest. Because white ball cricket and red ball cricket is a completely different ball game in England. It really doesn’t matter, how many nets sessions you have with a red ball or how early you go before the Test series. All that matters is how many practice matches do you want, because match preparation is match preparation. And the most unfortunate thing was that even though there was a four-day game, India decided to shorten it to a three-day game. You’ve got to take these games seriously.

Gautam Gambhir

Gambhir, who was part of the 2011 World Cup-winning team, added that Hardik Pandya’s role must be specified in the Indian team.

India need to decide whether Hardik Pandya is a bowling all-rounder or a batting all-rounder, you can’t just go into a match thinking Pandya is going to chip in with one or two wickets and he can give me 20-30 runs. That is not how Test cricket is meant to be played, in Test cricket you need quality all-rounders, you need proper bowlers and you need proper batters as well.

Gautam Gambhir

MS Dhoni managed only 79 runs in two ODIs at a strike-rate of 63.20 during the ODI series against England. Gambhir said that a player must perform to justify his place in the side.

Performance is the only thing that can keep you in the side. Reputations are not meant to keep you in the dressing room, ultimately it’s the performance. There should be only one criteria for selection and that is performance. If one is not performing, irrespective of whoever he is, the player should be left out. There are other people waiting in the wings.

Gautam Gambhir

For more news and updates from India's tour of England, click here.