‘If You Are Good And Not Injured, Play All Three Formats’: Gautam Gambhir’s Strict Message To Indian Players

July 12, 2024 0 805

Gautam Gambhir recently elaborated on his no-nonsense approach to injury management and emphasised playing through all formats.

As Gautam Gambhir steps into his new role as the head coach of the Indian cricket team, beginning with the upcoming white-ball series against Sri Lanka in late July, he shared his candid views on player workload and injury management in a video released by Star Sports. True to his straightforward nature, Gambhir expressed his firm belief that cricketers should play across all three formats if they are good enough and in form.

“I am a very strong believer in one thing: that if you are good, you should be playing all three formats. I have never been a big believer in ‘injury management’. You get injured; you go and recover. As simple as it gets. You are playing international cricket, and if you are good enough, you ask any of the top players if they want to play all three formats. They don’t want to be labelled as red-ball bowlers or white-ball bowlers,” Gambhir said.

The former India opener emphasised that injuries are a natural part of a sportsman’s life and should be dealt with through recovery rather than through preventive management. “Injuries are part of a sportsman’s life. And if you are playing all three formats, you get injured; you go back and recover, but you should be playing all three formats. I am not a big believer in identifying people that we are going to keep him for Test matches and manage his injury and workload,” Gautam Gambhir elaborated.

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Notably, at 42, Gambhir is the youngest coach to lead Team India. Given his experience in the cricketing world, he also underscored the importance of professional players making the most of their careers by playing as much as possible, given the limited span of their professional lives.

“Look, professional cricketers have a very small span. When you are playing for your country, you want to play as much as you can. When you are in very good form, go ahead and play all three formats,” Gambhir concluded.

Many top Indian cricket stars have been regularly rested as part of their workload management, considering the demanding cricket calendar. Hardik Pandya along with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have significantly skipped a few series to manage their workloads earlier.