Mumbai, Sept 18 (UNI) Apart from their success in the white-ball ICC tournaments, the Indian side in the 21st century has had considerable success at home and away in the Test format.
Placed at 2nd position in the ICC Test Team Rankings at present and No.1 in the World Test Championship Standings, India have overcome challenges across conditions over the years to establish themselves as a premier Test nation over the last couple of decades.
In an interview shared by BCCI.tv, head coach Gautam Gambhir and experienced batter Virat Kohli stated how Tests remained the focal point of Indian cricket going forward.
“The culture I want to bring in going forward is that people want to play red-ball cricket,” Gambhir told Kohli. “Because anything you want to know about a person, about their character, just push them in Test cricket. Because you don’t need skill or talent to be successful Test cricketer, you need discipline, patience, compassion, sympathy, and fight. If we can build the culture, where people say this is the priority.”
The India head coach also lauded former Test captain Kohli, for ensuring that the oldest format of international cricket got its due in his tenure.
“You’ve played a massive role when you said Test cricket is important to you,” Gambhir told Kohli.
He also backed Kohli’s attacking style of play which was visible in his debut as captain in Adelaide 2014, when India decided to go for a tough chase, and believed that approach has left its mark on the side.
“Test matches are won by taking 20 wickets. That’s what made you the most successful Test captain in the country. The mindset that was needed you brought in, like through the knock you played in Adelaide,” Gambhir spoke about his star batter.
Kohli stated that the challenge that excited him the most was building of a new successful Test side from scratch in 2015 after the departure of senior players.
“For me it is like I’m 25, and it’s a team of 25-24 year olds. How can we become household names like you guys were?” he questioned.
“The solutions came when I thought from the perspective of where Indian cricket needed to be in seven years time. We need a good bowling attack. We need batsmen who can bat long, we need to give ownership to five batters and a keeper to give us 350-400 runs,” Kohli said.
“We can’t have a seventh option to give a cushion to the batters. This communication came about purely because of the challenge in front of me,” he said.
Gambhir went on to add that if India were to continue performing well in Tests, they’d need a good core of fast bowlers willing to play red-ball cricket.
“For a strong red-ball team, it will depend on next generation of bowlers. We’ll keep getting good batters due to our structure. But do our bowlers have that will to go out there and deliver 20 overs, Gambhir said.
“For instance, I talked to Jasprit Bumrah. And he just loves bowling, he just wants to bowl. Do the next set of bowlers have that enjoyment to bowl 20 overs a day in Chennai’s heat. Or the spinners. That’s the only way you’d be motivated to play red-ball cricket,” he said.
Kohli mentioned that the task would be eased, if the management could start identifying individuals who were ready to dedicate themselves to the rigours of Test cricket.
“Bumrah is the most complete all-format bowler. So when you bring in the value of a cricketer, you cannot place that value separating the other two formats,” he said.
“Someone like Mohammed Siraj, he wants to play Test cricket, do well, and do well away from home. These are the values, others can look up to. So I guess it’s to identify those individuals as well,” Kohli said.
On the topic of taking over the role of India’s head coach, Gambhir stated that it wasn’t a planned call, but since taking over he has been spurred by India’s upcoming challenges like the Champions Trophy, T20 World Cup, and Cricket World Cup.
“Never thought about coaching India, even a couple of months back. It’s an absolute honour to represent your country once again, coming back into the dressing room, where you’ve spent a lot of time, and done some special things, great memory with all you guys,” Gambhir said.
“And you look forward, looking at the kind of tours we’ve got, there’s Champions Trophy, the T20 World Cup, the 50-over world cup. So you keep pushing yourself forward. And that’s why I thought, I can contribute,” he added.
