Gautam Gambhir pleased about playing for India again

It has been almost two years since Gautam Gambhir played his last Test match for India. In 2014, Gambhir was making a comeback to the squad after having been dropped in favor of right-handed batsman Murali Vijay. At The Oval in 2014, Gambhir simply had no chance against the vicious swing of James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

This time around, at the age of 34, Gautam Gambhir has been handed yet another lease of life after being roped into the Indian squad at the expense of the injured KL Rahul. The 34-year old southpaw led the India Blue in the recently concluded Duleep Trophy, a tournament that his side won as well. En route to the victory, Gambhir made a series of scores in the 90s, something that certainly has justified his selection.

India played their 500th Test match against New Zealand at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. They sounded it with a resounding win on the final day’s play. Although the series is far from over, the Indians will know all too well about taking their opponents lightly and not allow complacency to set in.

Although Gambhir is an addition to the side, it is highly likely that the Indians will persist with Shikhar Dhawan in the opening slot for India. Dhawan got off to a flier in the West Indies tour with a brisk half-century in the opening match. However, things began to go downhill for the 31-year old southpaw as he was also dropped for a game in the Caribbean.

Also read – Twitter reactions: Gautam Gambhir returns to the Test squad after two years

Gambhir also went on to thank the BCCI for his new lease of life and took to Twitter to render the same. His tweet read: “Nothing beats playing again for the country. Test cricket, whites, red ball, and India cap again. Thanks, @BCCI, thanks 2 all for the prayers.”

A follow-up tweet from Gambhir also went on to read: “Excitement of a debutant, certainty of experienced, nervousness of a novice…am feeling it all. Eden here I come loaded with ambitions.”

India will take on New Zealand in the second Test at the Eden Gardens scheduled to take place from the 30th of September.