The Indian cricket team’s new head coach, Gautam Gambhir, has made a major statement regarding the batting order in T20 cricket. He says that this is all outdated thinking; now, the key is to impact every ball.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav echoed this sentiment after the Australia series win, but Gambhir has now elaborated on how he will lead the team.
Fluidity in Batting: Batsmen for Every Situation!
Gambhir said in a video posted on the BCCI website,
“That has been the ideology from Day 1 when I took over as head coach. Batting orders are very overrated. The two openers are permanent.
The rest, I think, everything shuffles because it’s not the amount of runs that matter in T20 cricket, it’s the impact that matters.”
Meaning, the openers are fixed, but everything else will be a mix-and-match. More than scoring runs, the focus is on which player can make a difference in each situation.
T20 has 120 balls, and every single event should be considered. Gambhir’s mantra is maximum impact. He says don’t focus on things like average and strike rate, but rather look at the situation.
For example, if a wicket falls, which batsman should be sent in who can instantly turn the game around.
With this approach, the team’s batting lineup will always be surprising. Even Surya said in Australia that this was the reason for the victory.
A New Era of Coaching: Adapt or Be Left Behind!
Gambhir experimented with similar tactics while captaining the Kolkata Knight Riders. Remember Sunil Narine? Gambhir made him an opener, a no-name batting prospect.
The result was two IPL titles, and Narine continues to shine at the top. Now, the Indian team will adopt the same formula. Young players have quickly grasped it. Gambhir says,
“People sometimes don’t differentiate between runs and impact. Runs and impact are different. In T20 cricket, it’s all about impact. In 120 balls, every ball is an event; there needs to be maximum impact on each.
That’s the reason why it has a very fluid batting order. We don’t want to play a game thinking about averages, strike rates, and all that stuff.
We are thinking about the impact an individual can create in a situation. That is going to be important for this T20 side.”
T20 cricket is changing rapidly. Coaches also need to stay updated, or they’ll be left behind. Gambhir’s plan is to always keep the team ahead.
It will be interesting to see how this strategy works in India’s next T20 series. The BCCI has shared a video.
In which Gambhir said, “With time, T20 cricket will evolve, and if we as coaches don’t evolve, we will be behind the eight ball. We want to be ahead of the times, and that is exactly how these young boys have adapted. Hopefully, they will continue adapting and evolving in the future.”
