The dream of playing for Indian cricket team starts playing on almost every teenagers’ mind if he or she is inclined towards the 22-yard game. Since the population is so vast and competition is stiff, not every player dons the blue jersey. No cricket expert can ever pen down the emotions of a cricketer selected and playing for the national team. Every aspiring cricketer knows the struggles of getting recognition and playing for India. In this way, no matter what the age or situation, a player always strives hard for retaining his/her place in the side by adapting to new techniques to rectify mistakes and get another chance. In this way, the 34-year-old Gautam Gambhir has made way into India’s Test side in the ongoing series against New Zealand, albeit with some change in playing style.
Gambhir debuted for India in April 2003 in One-Day International (ODI) against Bangladesh. He made some vital contributions but his career was marred with inconsistent performances. Gambhir was axed from the squad participating in ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 and the flamboyant left-hander took the rejection seriously. The opener always had issues poking his willow against the balls pitching full and moving in to the stumps. Nonetheless, he found his ways attacking and not getting bogged down. Gambhir’s best and most cherished tactics have been the way he used to shimmy down the track and hit the bowler over mid-wicket. He slowly became India’s most consistent performer during 2009-2011 and was adjudged the No. 1 batsman in ICC Test rankings.
From 2012-13, Gambhir’s bat remained silent for most part and critics were writing for his omission. After a flurry of shabby performances, Gambhir was dropped from the side in early 2013. His technical flaw of poking the balls outside off, playing away from the body was becoming repetitive and to top it all, he was throwing his starts meekly. The man of the finals (75 in ICC World Twenty20 2007 and 97 in ICC Cricket World Cup 2011) was made to make way for youngsters and dwell upon his footwork, array of shots and other things. ALSO READ: Kohli and co. need to weld chinks in their armour
Gambhir made a comeback into the Test side in India’s tour of England 2014 for the last Test but his scores of 0 and 3 did not help his cause one bit. As a result, he was again shown the door from the team. Sometimes luck and time does not favour you and Gambhir was facing the brunt of it. Nonetheless, his urge to play for the nation did not take a backseat and he pledged to make another comeback. On this occasion, time and luck also seems to be with him as he was earlier not drafted into the Test side to face the Kiwis but KL Rahul’s injury has accommodated a place for him.
However, his comeback has little to do with time and luck shining on his side. The path to staging a comeback was stitched by Gambhir when he decided to change his stance and work more on his batting. Every batsman goes through ups and downs and Gambhir was no exception. His visit to Western Australia for a few net sessions with Australia’s former opener Justin Langer has managed to settle the dust on his shortcomings (for a while at least). The next paragraph will give an insight into Gambhir’s changed stance and the results it has had on him. ALSO READ: Gambhir or Dhawan: Who should partner Vijay at Eden Gardens?
In the Indian Premier League (IPL) season 2016, there was an evident change in Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) skipper’s batting stance. Gambhir, in order to tackle the away swinging balls, resorted to an open chested stance which gave him ample room to judge the length of the balls. Gambhir did this to cut down on his lbw dismissals and knack of getting clean bowled for being confused of whether to play or leave the balls in off stump region. With this stance, he also gets a wider area to impose his shots and know about where his stumps are. Such adaptations are not new as many left-handers (like Shivnarine Chanderpaul) have done this to acquire more space at the crease.
The results of the change in stance also bore effective results for Gambhir as he finished with 505 runs in IPL 2016 at an average of 38 with five timely half-centuries. Whether this change in approach has yielded good results or his confidence has increased is yet to be known but the pleasant aspect is that runs are coming off his willow. In the Duleep Trophy 2016-17, Gambhir did struggle a bit at the start of his innings but managed to score runs on every occasion (356 from 5 innings at 71.20). Gambhir has also negated risks at the start of his innings as he now stays at the crease more than dancing down the track. ALSO READ: IND vs NZ: Gambhir gets less batting practice before 2nd Test
Gambhir was also compelled to make this change to avoid his footwork from not moving too far across the stumps to trigger his own collapse. However, this approach is still not a master stroke. It will not take too long for teams to push mid-off or mid-on fielders a lot wider than usual against him. Another issue which may haunt him later will be playing the pull shots. Being a compulsive puller of the ball, he may have to tussle a bit for survival with the deliveries aimed at his body and are rising.
This stance can work wonders for him in the subcontinent but not on turfs which can inject sufficient pace and bounce. Being a relatively diminutive player can also disturb his rhythm trying to get rid of the balls with awkward bounce. Another vital aspect can be that with this open stance, his bat will come from the gully/point region which can cause him to play some aerial shots. Till now, this has worked well for him but he has tried this in Twenty20 (T20Is) where bowlers maintain a wicket-to-wicket length and not bowl a lot outside off. ALSO READ: IND vs NZ: Williamson hit by bug, misses training
In conclusion, Gambhir’s ploy has reaped good rewards till now but he may face difficulties with the more he plays like this. Bowlers will get to understand how to bowl at him as no batsman can always dominate. With so much hype generated on Gambhir’s comeback, one needs to analyse his stance too. How long will he receive success for the newly-adopted plan will be seen in when India take on the field against New Zealand on September 30, if, of course, he gets to play.
(Aditya Sahay is a journalist with CricketCountry who is completely into sports and loves writing about cricket in general. He can be followed on Twitter at adisahay7)