When you're in very good form, go ahead and play all the three formats: Gautam Gambhir

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir who is ready to start his new journey, as the Indian Team's Head Coach, recently emphasized the importance of players participating in all formats of the game.

Gambhir's appointment comes after Rahul Dravid's tenure ended with India's T20 World Cup title on June 29. Unlike his predecessor, Gambhir's coaching experience stems from his role as a mentor for IPL teams, notably leading Kolkata Knight Riders to a championship in IPL 2024.

His contract as the Indian Head Coach is until December 31, 2027, with his first assignment being India's white-ball tour to Sri Lanka in July-August.

In an interview with Star Sports, Gambhir shared his philosophy on player management and format selection. He strongly advocates for cricketers capable of excelling across all formats.

“I'm a very strong believer in one thing, if you're good, you should be playing all the three formats. I've never been a big believer in injury management, you get injured, you go get recovered. As simple as it gets. When you're playing international cricket, and you're good enough, you ask any of the top players, they want to play all the three formats,” he said.

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Injuries are part of a sportsman's life: Gambhir

Gambhir's approach prioritizes consistent play over workload management. The veteran believes that a player, even though gets injured, needs to go back to recover, and play all the formats rather than dropping any one format for workload management.

“Injuries are part of a sportsman's life. And if you're playing all three formats, you get injured, you go back, get recovered, but you should be playing all three formats. I am not a big believer in identifying people that, we're going to keep him for test matches or other formats. We're going to manage his injury and workload and stuff,” he added. Professional cricketers, you've got a very small span when you're playing for your country, and you want to play as much as you can. And when you're in very good form, go ahead and play all the three formats,” he continued.

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Addressing the issue of player labelling, Gambhir believes no cricketer should be tagged to just one format and look to represent the nation in all formats of the game.

“They don't want to stay, and they don't want to be labelled as red ball bowlers or white ball bowlers,” he concluded.