Gautam Gambhir sets his eye on England series

Indian opening batsman Gautam Gambhir recently made a comeback to the national side. His comeback was after being out of the team for almost 2 years. Gambhir played in the final Test against New Zealand at Indore in absence of Shikhar Dhawan. He made a strong statement coming back into the Indian team. After scoring 29 in the first innings, he scored 50 in the second. His half-century was his fastest in Test cricket.

Clearly, the form has been great for the Delhi batsman. He started piling up runs in heap at the starting of this year. He emerged as the leading run-getter for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. He was also among the top 5 run getters in IPL this season with over 500 runs to his name. In the longer format, he amassed 356 runs in 3 matches in the Duleep Trophy recently. He averaged 71.67 with 4 half centuries to his name.

Stellar performances in the Duleep Trophy saw him get his national comeback to the Test team. Now, with Dhawan struggling to find his feet at the crease, Gautam Gambhir has a strong case to make it to the playing eleven. India is scheduled to play 5 Tests against England next month. Gambhir is keen on making the most out of it. Speaking to the Hindustan Times, Gambhir cited that the 5 match series gives more opportunities to make a comeback than a shorter series.

“England is going to be a very good series. They are going to come hard at you. Five Tests are a very long time. Teams can make a comeback unlike when you play a three-Test series where if you start well, the other team has very little time to recover,” quoted Gambhir.

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He further suggested how he plans to gear up for the series. The Delhi opener pointed that selection is definitely not in his hands. But further added that he has two Ranji games to play in order to put his case for the selection. His aim will be to score well and win matches for Delhi in those two games.

He also commented that England is a quality side with the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad in their armoury. Gautam Gambhir believes that one needs to mentally tough for a series like this.

“You got to be really strong mentally. You have to weather the storm, see off spells. They have a quality attack. People like James Anderson, Stuart Broad have played in India and have done reasonably well. Selection is not in my hands. I have two Ranji games now and will try and score runs and win matches,” commented Gambhir.