This was made apparent by the new coach and chairman of selectors, who talked tough on cherry-picking series as workload management excuses. Gambhir’s plain-speak and Agarkar’s lucidity promise to be an explosive cocktail.
Some hard decisions were clarified but in others there was enough ambiguity to allow different interpretations.
However, despite their external appearances that aren’t particularly large, no one in Indian cricket can deny that they are keen observers as well as intelligent people whose opinions are not easily swayed.
Their first joint press appearance showed them to be willing to walk the talk.
These two will come together at the beginning of this chairmanship for Agarkar, his second year officially as Chairman, and a new start for Gambhir where they can collaborate on a roadmap to 2027 ODI World Cup.
What did you take out when Gambhir and Agarkar held a press conference before leaving for Sri Lanka?
The biggest one seems like it is workload management.
India’s tricky word in cricket will once again control the air but now it is clear that there will be separate rules for bowlers and batters.
“Workload management – I have said this many times,” Parami News quoted Gambhir saying about Bumrah who he believes should be preserved. If you are a batsman in form, play all games,” replied Gambhir directly according to Parami News.
While ODI captain Rohit Sharma missed three matches against Sri Lanka as expected along with Test skipper Virat Kohli, both seniors’ presence indicates each time that they might continue playing more single-format series than any other pair would want or expect.
“Readiness” is what both Chairman Ajit Agarkar and Gambhir meant while speaking about how much hardship Hardik Pandya had faced after stepping into Rohit’s shoes at least in T20s with clarity just like Chairman Agarkar began to speak upon what went against him while answering the question of why not Hardik Pandya?
“You (would) want a captain that’s going to be more likely to play all the games,” one couldn’t get a more crystal clear answer to a pointed question.
Even better, unlike past selection committee chairs, Agarkar factored in what was happening in the dressing room as well as his own leadership hunches.
This was one reason Surya Kumar Yadav became captain. “Because he is one of the deserving candidates. The person we know has been around our changing room for about twelve months, and you get feedback from changing rooms.”
“He’s got great cricketing brain and till date he is one of the best T20 batters in the world,” said Agarkar.
For 27 minutes straight, only one point was being made throughout that presser. Stars can no longer cherry-pick series.
At a time when everyone appreciates how unique Pandya’s skill set is simply by looking at him, Agarkar stressed against taking Selection Committee lightly.
“Evidently, health has been a hurdle for him over the past few years and then it remains a little bit harder for him and as selectors too” he said.
Agarkar also answered this question in an equal level of eloquence about KL Rahul being superseded for captaincy.
“I was not there when KL was bypassed; I wasn’t the selector firstly.”
Then came Duleep Trophy and Agarkar made it clear that all, if not most, Indian Test squad candidates will play at least one match in the tournament before India’s unprecedented 10-Test season starts on September 19.
According to Agarkar, the veteran all-rounder player Ravindra Jadeja had not been dropped from the ODI squad but his explanation clearly eluded to how two players with very similar skills sets might not be included into any ODI line-up.
“Taking both him and Akshar for this short series would have been really pointless…So no, not at all dropped,” he added on Jadeja.
Afterwards, Gambhir had to confront unspoken yet significant issue of speculations regarding his relation with Kohli which he dismissed as “good for TRP.”
Gambhir may seem like a “My Way or High Way” kind of person but his message was actually that he wanted to make sure everyone in the dressing room is happy by himself.
And what makes a happy dressing room?
“A winning dressing room,” stated Gambhir.
