“Sometimes you have to give it to the opposition too,” he said on Thursday, a day before the third Test in Mumbai. “I think Mitchell Santner was outstanding in the last game, but yes, we will continue to work hard. We will continue to improve. That’s all. The boys are putting a lot of yards in the nets. Yes, in the end it is the results are important when you play cricket internationally, but I don’t think our anti-spin ability has diminished.
“Test cricket is about playing sessions,” Gambhir said. “I think if we can start learning how to play sessions and the kind of quality we have in our batting line-up, I think if we end up playing four to four and a half sessions, we will have a lot of runs on the board.”
The inability to meet this fundamental demand has highlighted the challenge facing today’s batsmen in the era of T20 cricket. “We need to defend better,” Gambhir said. “I think it’s something important. And especially on a curvy track. Because if you have confidence in your defense, a lot of things can be solved. And that’s something we need to keep improving, keep working on.” in.
“Because, once again, I will keep coming back to the same answer which has a lot to do with limited-overs cricket and T20 cricket, as well as when you are so used to exercising the muscles of the ball, you end up forgetting about smoothness. hands and all that, which probably happened eight or 10 years ago. So that’s something, that’s why I said a complete cricketer is a cricketer who plays the T20 format very successfully and also Test cricket. very successfully. adapt your game. And that is growth.
“Growth is not just about hitting the ball in the stands. It is also about hitting sessions on a swing track, where you know that you won’t be able to hit in the stands, but you will be able to rotate better. For that “I think the basis It’s very, very important.”
“If we can bat sessions, we will know we have the bowling attack to take 20 wickets”
Gautama Gambhir
The Mumbai Test is likely to be played in conditions which should also help the spinners. At the end of India’s practice session on Thursday morning, captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli took a long look at the pitch with assistant coach Abhishek Nayar. Kohli then left, but Gambhir and bowling coach Morne Morkel joined Rohit and Nayar and the four engaged in an argument that lasted about 20 minutes. A while later, the ground crew began removing the grass that had managed to stick to the surface. Batsmen may have to unlearn the skills that help them succeed in T20s to perform well here. But is that possible? Can a coach help them make that change?
“To some extent, yes,” Gambhir said, “to some extent, it has to come from the individual as well. How much value do you end up putting in defending the ball? That’s a very important thing.” And especially on a swing court, because I’ve always believed that the best players and the most successful players in this format, or any format, always had solid defense, and that’s something we keep talking about. It’s not an overnight thing that we’re going to talk about it today and people will start getting better tomorrow. But it is a continuous process. “We need to keep telling people the importance of defense.”
Could India end up facing a situation where they have to look for a separate pool of players better suited for Test cricket? Gambhir could not commit to a hypothetical question, but admitted that “in the future, obviously, we will have to identify players who are solid red-ball cricketers. Because ultimately, to get the results, you will have to work very hard to “Three or four days or five days to be honest. So sometimes, as I just mentioned, it is important if we can bat sessions, we know we have the bowling attack to take 20 wickets.”
