You don't prepare yourself the whole year just to play 24 days: Gautam Gambhir

Veteran Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir has had a prolific run in the domestic circuit this year. Playing for team Delhi, he has amassed 632 runs with 3 centuries and two fifties in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. He has played a key role in taking his side to the finals of the tournament this year. Delhi will lock horns with Vidarbha, who will be playing their maiden Ranji finals, in the finals of the 2017-18 edition.

As per the recent quotes in India Today, Gautam Gambhir expressed his satisfaction over his performance  this season. He remarked that scoring runs for the team in crucial games is what makes him happy. Scoring runs keeps him motivated all the time.

“It has been satisfying (season). You want to put your hands up and perform in crucial games for your team. That’s what the team expects you to do as well. Scoring runs makes me happy. It keeps me motivated. Winning a game of cricket is equally important to me,” quoted Gautam Gambhir.

On the current domestic setup

Speaking further with a deeper insight, Gautam Gambhir expressed his concerns with the current format of domestic cricket in India. He rued the fact that there are youngsters who do not know how to bat out an entire day and win matches for their teams. He hopes that the Ranji games would be five day matches. He hinted that the Indian domestic circuit should take cues from the domestic matches played in England and Australia.

He pointed out that the players get more number of matches there, and they are all five day games. On the contrary, a player in Indian domestic circuit plays only 6 four-day fixtures in the Ranji Trophy season if his team does not qualify for the playoffs.

“Some of the youngsters do not even know how to bat out the entire day, especially on a day five track, win a game outright. Because in a four-day game, most of the time the last day has been a dead rubber. If it is a five-day game, you always have an opportunity to make a comeback in the second innings as well, so the bowlers will be motivated. It will be challenging for the batters as well,” mentioned Gambhir.

“Look at county cricket. County games are 18 four-day games. There I can understand you can’t take it to five days because that’s going to be very challenging. Sheffield Shield is more than 10 games. In India you play six games, 24 days of first class cricket, which is nothing. You don’t prepare yourself the whole year just to play 24 days. And if you played one innings per (match), literally you play six or seven innings in a season which is absolutely ridiculous.” said Gambhir.

On playing under Rishabh Pant

Gautam Gambhir is the senior most member in the Delhi side. Yet the hunger that this 36-year old has been showing remains unmatched. In the current Ranji Trophy season, Gambhir is playing under the captaincy of young Rishabh Pant. Speaking about the same, he noted that captaining the entire season gets a little too hectic and hence, he opted to pass the baton. As far as his role is concerned, he wishes to continue scoring runs.

“My job is to score runs and score as many as I can and try and win a game of cricket for my team. Sometimes I feel I have done enough. Captaining the entire season is a very long time. It is not like the IPL where you just finish in two months. Captaining day in and day out can be very tiring as well. So I thought it is time someone else does it,” Gautam Gambhir conceded.