Gautam Gambhir believes that Varun Chakravarthy could be an x-factor in the Champions Trophy, a reason why he has been drafted in despite not being in the provisional squad. The India head coach was pretty clear-cut about several issues at the post-match press conference after his team’s 3-0 clean-sweep of England in the ODI series. Excerpts:
On Varun’s inclusion
Look, the only reason was (that) we wanted another wicket-taking option in the middle. And we know what Varun brings to the table, that he can be a massive threat. With a lot of teams who haven’t played him, he could be the X-factor as well. I’m not going to say he is going to start and all that stuff, but it’s always good to have a strong bowling line-up, because we know that if we get those wickets in the middle, it’s going to be an advantage.
We know that Yashasvi (Jaiswal) has a fabulous future ahead. But we could only pick 15 (players).
On Axar Patel coming ahead of KL Rahul in the batting order in the first two ODIs
That’s the way cricket is meant to be played. I know a lot of people talked about it, but that’s the way we’ve got to play the game, and that’s the way cricket should be played. It’s not about the batting order. It’s about who can create what impact. If you have the option of putting in a quality left-hander in the middle, why wouldn’t you do that? Why would you want to have the top five as right-handers? We don’t look at averages and stats, and all that stuff. We look at who can deliver more at that number, and Axar has done fabulously well. (So) that’s the way we want to go in the future as well.
On Jasprit Bumrah’s absence
Obviously he has been ruled out. But all the details I can’t give you, because it’s up to the (BCCI) medical team to talk about how long he is going to be out. It’s the medical team that decides at the NCA. See, you can’t help it. If he is not available, he is not available. If he is injured, he is injured. We can’t do much about it. People like Harsh (Harshit Rana), Arsh (Arshdeep Singh), Mohammed Shami – all these guys will put their hands up. It’s a great opportunity for them to try and deliver for the country.
On Shreyas Iyer
He wasn’t supposed to be benched for the entire series. We wanted to give Yashasvi the first game and we wanted to see what he could bring to the table. He was in really good form in Australia. So, we wanted to see what kind of innings he plays.
Between Rahul and Rishabh Pant
At the moment, KL is our No. 1 wicketkeeper, and he has delivered for us. See, when you have two wicketkeepers in the squad, you can’t play both the wicketkeepers. Hopefully, when he (Pant) gets an opportunity, he should be ready for it. That’s all I can say. At the moment, KL is the one we are going to start.
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