Good Enough? Play All Three Formats: Gautam Gambhir Issues Stern Message to India Stars, Says 'Don't Believe in Injury Management'

Gautam Gambhir has issued a stern message for the current India stars and hopefuls after taking over as the head coach: If you are good enough and in form, play all three formats.

What’s new?

Well, Gambhir doesn’t like players limiting themselves to one or two formats citing fitness and injury concerns. For the former India captain, if someone has the talent to play all forms of cricket then potential injury concerns shouldn’t matter.

Also Read: ‘Great Gesture by Rohit Sharma And Virat Kohli’

Gambhir was confirmed as the head coach earlier this week, replacing Rahul Dravid who ended his tenure with a title winning campaign at the 2024 T20 World Cup.

“I am a very strong believer in one thing, that if you are good, you should be playing all the three formats,” Gambhir said in a video on Star Sports. “I have never been a big believer of injury management. You got injured, you go and recover. As simple as it gets.”

“You are playing international cricket, and you are good enough, you ask any of the top players, they want to play all the three formats. They don’t want to be labelled as red-ball bowlers or white-ball bowlers,” he added.

A host of top India stars have been regularly rested as part of their workload management considering the punishing cricket calendar. Hardik Pandya, who underwent a major back surgery in 2019 to deal with a longstanding issue, has only been playing white-ball cricket since his comeback while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have also skipped a few series.

Gambhir says injuries are expected in the life of a cricketer and the simple solution is to get fit and return to represent your country in as many games as possible.

“Injuries are part of sportsmen’s life. And if you are playing all the three formats, you get injured, you go back and get recovered but you should be playing all the three formats. I am not a big believer to identify people that ‘okay we are going to keep him for Test matches’ and we are going to manage his injury and workload and stuff,” Gambhir said.

“Look, professional cricketers, you got 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 the three formats,” he added.