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Head coach Gautam Gambhir reflected on the ideology he has brought into the Indian team since taking charge, emphasising that his approach and beliefs have remained consistent throughout. Gambhir assumed the role of India’s head coach after the 2024 T20 World Cup, starting his tenure with the tour of Sri Lanka. That period marked the beginning of a transition for Team India, introducing a fresh mindset and a new leadership approach aimed at a fearless batting style. Players like Abhishek Sharma and Varun Chakaravarthy broke into the setup during this phase and have now secured their spots as regular starters, even rising to the top of the ICC rankings.
Gambhir shed light on India’s new T20 philosophy, emphasising flexibility and impact over conventional batting roles. Reflecting on his journey from the Sri Lanka tour to the Australia series, Gambhir explained why batting order stability beyond openers holds little value in modern T20 cricket.
“That has been the ideology from day one when I took over as the head coach, from Sri Lanka till now. It has not changed. I think batting orders are very overrated, except the openers, obviously. The two openers are permanent, the rest, I think, everything shuffles, because it is not the amount of runs that matter in T20 cricket, it’s the impact that matters. People sometimes miscalculate or do not differentiate between the batting order, the runs, and the impact,” Gambhir told BCCI in an interview after the Australia tour.
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Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma have been the designated openers for India in the last couple of series – Asia Cup and Australia tour, while the remaining batter order has been flexible with likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson and Axar Patel – constantly shuffling up and down the order.
“It has been a fluid batting order…”: Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir further explained that India’s dynamic approach is built on adaptability rather than statistics. He said the team’s batting order has intentionally remained flexible since day one, focusing on playing fearless, situation-driven cricket instead of being bound by numbers like averages or strike rates.
“That’s the reason from day one, I think it has been a fluid batting order, and that is how we want to play the game. We don’t want to play a game thinking about averages, strike rates, and all that stuff,” Gambhir added.
