Gautam Gambhir reveals the role of Justin Langer behind his comback

Indian opener Gautam Gambhir heaped praise on former Australian batsman Justin Langer for his return to the International arena after being overlooked by the selectors since 2014. The left-hander recently made a comeback to the Test arena after a two years hiatus in the third test of the recent the concluded Test series against New Zealand.

After a poor showing during India’s tour to England in 2014, Gambhir faced the axe and was dropped from the Test team. The Delhi batsman cricketing future was in jeopardy. But, Gambhir didn’t lose hope and soon chose to rework. The first step towards resurrection was a visit to Australia to meet to seek Langer’s assistance and improve on his technique.

Gambhir informed that he met the Australian even before the disappointing England tour and later felt that Langer was the man whom he could trust. As per the reports of the Indian Express, the Indian batsman said, “Even before the England tour, when I was scoring runs, I did not look completely in control of my game. That’s when I met Langer at the Champions League in Hyderabad, some seasons ago.”

The KKR star also added, “Obviously, he made a lot of sense to me, and with time I realised he was the person whom I could trust. I went to Perth and spent time with him. His inputs were more mental than technical.”

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Gambhir added that it was during this stint that he met Langer’s batting coach Neil “Noddy” Holder. It was on Holder’s insistence that he opted for a more open-chested batting stance. “If Justin helped me in the mental aspect of the game, Noddy helped me on the technical side. He is the best batting coach I have worked with. He was the guy who asked me to open my stance,” Gambhir adds.

Along with Langer, the Indian batsman worked on various aspects of batting, one of the main being, a change in the batting stance. Gambhir admitted that this particular amendment helped him sight the ball better.

Regarding the matter, he said, “What your eyes can’t see, your hands can’t hit. These were the words of Ali, and it’s applicable in batting as well. Both Justin and I have been discussing it a lot when I was in Australia. If you cannot watch something clearly, your hands will never react.”

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His technical adjustments began to bore its fruits. Gambhir played exceptionally well in the Duleep Trophy scoring four half-centuries which caught the eye of the selectors. It was widely anticipated that Gambhir would come back to the Test team for the New Zealand series.

However, the presence of KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan forced the selectors to overlook him. But, as luck would have it, KL Rahul picked up an injury after the first Test which brought Gambhir into the squad.