‘Want to entertain people…’ – India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir vows to play aggressive cricket during Test series against New Zealand

With just under 48 hours, India will take on New Zealand in the first match of the three-match Test series in Bengaluru. India's head coach Gautam Gambhir was addressing the media where he promised to continue playing the aggressive brand of cricket seen in Kanpur against Bangladesh. India became the team to score the fastest 50,100,150,200, and 250 during the game.

When asked if India will continue to bat in the same vein, Gambhir said “We want to be that team which can score 400 in a day and bat for two days to salvage a draw. And you call that growth, you call that adaptability, you call that Test cricket. If you play only one way, then there is no growth.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Team India (@indiancricketteam)

India on Saturday recorded the highest score by a Test-playing nation in T20 cricket. Suryakumar Yadav’s side scored 297/6 from their 20 overs against Bangladesh. Rohit Sharma and his side will also know that the Kiwi bowlers will be a tougher challenge than Bangladesh. 

Gautam Gambhir wants India to play aggressive brand of cricket 

During the press conference, Gambhir also added “I can't talk about world cricket. Every team has their ideologies, their methods to play Test cricket. I can only talk about my team. If we are ever in such a situation where we have to bat for two days to draw a Test, we have players in the dressing room who can bat for two days”

India’s coach said that his team will always look to win the game first and if the need arises will they go for a draw. “Ultimately, our first motive is to win a match and then if there is a situation where the team has to play for a draw, we have to keep those options open as well. That is the kind of Test cricket that we want to play."

Gautam Gambhir, who is celebrating his 43rd birthday on Monday, was seen speaking with intent. There was also mention of using high risk for high rewards and according to Gambhir, there could be a scenario where India could be all out for 100 as well. 

“Yeah, we want people to be aggressive, we want people to go out there and play their natural game. If they can play the natural game, if they can get 400-500 runs in a day, why not? We will play it that way - high-risk, high-reward; high-risk, high-failure, There will be days when we'll get bundled up for 100 but we'll continue to back our players" said Gambhir. 

During the press conference India’s coach also went on to say “That's how we want to play and that's how we want to entertain the people of this country and, even in Test cricket, we want to keep the game going forward and get the results in whatever situation we are in."

When asked to speak about their opponents, Gambhir said “I think New Zealand is a completely different challenge. We know that they're a very, very good team. They've got some really high-quality players. They've got players who can hurt us. They've got players who can do the job for them as well. They keep fighting and we expect them to fight as well. So we respect them, but we don't fear anyone”