India head coach Gautam Gambhir said every effort in a team match deserves recognition, stressing that the often-overlooked contributions are as important as the headline performances.
After India beat West Indies on Sunday to secure a place in the semi-finals, Gambhir pointed out that Shivam Dube’s two boundaries in the penultimate over were crucial to the result, as was Sanju Samson’s unbeaten 97.
“It’s nice that you talk about every contribution because for years, we only talked about certain contributions. It’s a team sport and it always will be a team sport,” Gambill said.
“For me, Shivam’s two boundaries are as important as Sanju’s 97 because if he hadn’t hit those two boundaries, you wouldn’t even be talking about it (97 runs knocking).”
“Big contributions grab the headlines. Small contributions, contributions that help the team win and cross boundaries are very important,” the Indian coach said.
Gambill said that approach will define his tenure as coach.
“That’s why I said this is going to be my philosophy until I get there.”
My coaching mantra is based on gut feeling, not data
While data analysis plays a key role in modern T20 cricket, Gambhir said he relies more on intuition than numbers.
“Honestly, I don’t trust data. I’ve never seen data. I don’t even know what data is. I definitely don’t trust it because I feel like it’s more of a gut instinct,” Gambhir said, although the team works closely with data analyst Hari Prasad.
“T20 cricket is about instinct and supporting your instinct. Whatever I know about the game and the T20 format, I try to give that to the captain and help him in any way I can.
Looking ahead to the semi-final against England at the Wankhede Stadium, Gambhir said the opponents were strong and the venue was challenging.
“They (England) are a world-class team, they are a quality team and they have a lot of good players and we all know Wankhede is a tough venue.
“Hopefully we can show up and see that we have another opportunity to do something special for the team, for the country and hopefully play our best game as well. That’s going to be huge,” Gambill said.
