Ahead of the fifth T20I of the New Zealand tour, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir said his job is to “take the right decisions instead of popular ones” and the talent which has done well over longer period of time deserves a long rope.
Team India has already won the T20I series ahead of the final match at Seddon Park, Hamilton. The scoreline stands at 3-1. During this series and in fact, for a long while, the selection of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been a matter of debate, with T20 World Cup-winning openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma getting a longer rope at the top and Sooryavanshi making way mostly in case of injuries/form dips. In this series, Sooryavanshi has featured in two matches, scoring four (at number three) and a quickfire 45 while opening, respectively.
Since becoming the youngest Indian cricketer to play international cricket at the age of 15 against England in July, Sooryavanshi has featured in 10 T20Is, having made 295 runs at an average of 29.50, with a strike rate of over 185, with two fifties. The debate around Vaibhav’s inclusion rages in cases of injuries or whenever either Abhishek or Samson face a slump.
Speaking ahead of the match, Gambhir said on managing the team and keeping everyone happy, “First of all, my job is not to make everyone happy. My job is to take the right decisions, not the popular decisions. And that is what I am there for. I think sometimes in today’s day and age, with so much of social media and all that chatter, what happens on the outside, it is very easy to take the popular decision. But for me, I think the important thing is to take the right decision and make sure that there is a lot of security inside the dressing room.”
“Because, as you just mentioned that there is a lot of talent. But again, I think guys have done phenomenally well over a longer period of time. Obviously deserves a longer rope. And that is exactly how we approach the series,” he added.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl first in the fifth and final T20I against India at Seddon Park, Hamilton, on Sunday.
The series is already in India’s pocket, as they hold a 3-1 lead. After a run of three unbeaten games, India suffered an 87-run loss at Eden Park while chasing a massive total of 260 runs. For the Kiwis, this will be their chance to end this extremely competitive series on a high. For the Men in Blue, it will be another occasion where they will get to show why they are the reigning world champions in T20Is.
New Zealand (Playing XI): Tim Seifert(w), Finn Allen, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Nathan Smith, Adam Milne, Jacob Duffy, Blair Tickner
India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy.
