‘That’s the way cricket is meant to be played’- Gautam Gambhir on India’s left-right combination

India dominated the T20I series with a recent 3-0 clean sweep of England, but some tactical choices raised doubts among fans and experts. Axar Patel’s elevation to the batting order was one such choice that gave KL Rahul fewer opportunities. Gautam Gambhir, the head coach, defended the choice by highlighting the significance of right-left pairings in contemporary cricket.

The hosts put on outstanding batsmanship and ballplay throughout the series. India scored 356 runs in the third Twenty20 International, a lopsided victory made possible by a century from Shubman Gill (112) and half-centuries from Virat Kohli (52) and Shreyas Iyer (78). In their pursuit, England got off to a fast start, but after their openers were dismissed, the rest of the batting order followed suit.

To complete a 142-run triumph, Team India’s bowlers, particularly Arshdeep Singh (2/33) and Harshit Rana (2/31) destroyed the visitor’s middle order. The coach questioned the conventional strategy of starting a lineup full of right-handers, pointing out that impact players and game circumstances, not averages and statistics, should determine team decisions.

“That is the proper way to play cricket. That’s how we got to play the game, and that’s how cricket should be played, even if I know a lot of people talk about it. Who can make what impact is more important than the batting order. And the thing is, why wouldn’t you place a good left-hander in the middle if you had the option? “Why would you want the top five to be right-handers?” Gambhir asked during the press conference held after the game.

We don’t look at statistics, averages, or anything like that. We examine who can produce more at that quantity. Axar has also performed incredibly well. He performed well for us in both of the games [in which] he had the chance. He went on to say, “I think that’s the way we want to go in the future as well, but I know there will always be talk and people talking about it.”

KL is currently our number one wicketkeeper: Gautam Gambhir

It’s well knowledge that Gautam Gambhir prefers to stick with a left-right combo. The Kolkata Knight Riders’ right-left partnerships grew dramatically under his coaching, rising from 58% in 2022–2023 to 74% in 2024. He added, though, that this was a calculated move to optimise the team’s potential rather than an obsession. According to Gambhir, Rahul is still India’s first-choice wicketkeeper even after missing a few chases.

“KL is currently our top wicketkeeper and has performed well for us. And as you can see, you cannot play both wicketkeepers with the calibre of our team when you have two in it. I hope he’ll be prepared for that chance once it presents itself. Right now, that’s all I have to say. KL is the one who will start right now,” he continued.

India’s thought of adding Yashasvi Jaiswal to the playing XI was another experiment. Similar to this, Shreyas Iyer disclosed that he had originally planned to sit out for Jaiswal but that he took advantage of an injury to Virat Kohli to win the match. Gambhir affirmed that India planned to rotate players prior to the Champions Trophy and that Iyer was always in the team’s plans.

“He wasn’t meant to sit out the entire series. Yashasvi was playing well in Australia, so we wanted to give him a chance in the first game to see what he might do. Therefore, we were interested in seeing what kind of innings he could play. We always thought Shreyas would be a key member of our team, even though I know you can’t assess a person by one innings. Whatever he’s done at number four, whether it’s the World Cup or not, he’s simply a valuable player,” Gambhir said.