India Blue comprehensively won the Duleep Trophy 2016-17 under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir. The team outplayed the opposition in the league matches as well as the final to lift the coveted Trophy.
The tournament was played under lights and with the pink ball and instead of zonal teams, for the first time three teams comprising players from across the country were formed to play in it.
Speaking ahead of their campaign, Gambhir had spoken about playing to win, looking back, the India Blue captain reiterated his thought. “Obviously that is how the game is meant to be played. When people walk out on to the field they should look to win rather than just thinking of individual performances. If that is the case, I think people should play in an individual sport. When you walk on to the field it is all about winning.
“The best part of the win is that you come back to a happy dressing room and the only way you can come back to a happy dressing room is if you win. As a professional cricketer, if you don’t win it will definitely be a sad dressing room. You want to go out there and compete to the best of your ability,” he stated further.
While his team outperformed the opposition, the captain, besides leading the team, had himself made crucial contributions with the bat to shape the innings. Speaking about his form and knocks heading into the season, Gambhir said, “I think the most important thing was that I hadn’t played any cricket after the IPL. Actually (before) the first game I was very nervous, because obviously it was pink ball and (I) hadn’t batted for a long time. In the first innings I played and got some runs, that obviously gave me a lot of confidence because I wanted to spend some time in the middle as well. When you don’t play days (multi-day) game for a very long time, it is obviously a different challenge.”
Asked about the challenges that players faced during the tournament while playing with the pink ball, Gambhir said, “I reckon (Cheteshwar) Pujara made a very valid point - he thought that the ball behaved differently during the day time and it behaved differently under lights, especially with the pace of the ball with little bit of help (that) seamers (were) getting and the ball skidding through against spinners and picking the wrist spinner. However, I personally feel it’s just that the colour has changed and that you have to pick the spinner from the hand.
The game starts at 2:00 pm and when the third session starts it is 7:30, the artificial lights take over so obviously the ball starts behaving differently; picking the wrist spinner and all that stuff I didn’t feel that much of a change because ultimately you pick the spinner from the hand and not in the air.”
Speaking about his batting and the perceived change in his stance he said, “It’s not about how I stand it is about how much I watch the ball and let my instincts take over. If you let your instincts take over the rest of the things can be taken care off. It’s all about watching the ball and reacting to what is coming towards you.”
Reflecting on the tournament he observed, “I am traditionalist. I feel Test cricket should be played with the red ball because that’s something that has been happening for number of years. This is personal belief that at least in one format we should try and keep it the way. But it is about other people as well (and) what they think. For me, being a traditionalist I would prefer playing with the red ball and if starts during the day time it is more fun and more of a challenge.”
Having won the Duleep trophy, Gambhir is now looking to help Delhi lift the Ranji Trophy. Looking forward to the season where the premiere tournament will be played on neutral venues, he said, “I haven’t played any first-class (Ranji Trophy) cricket in neutral venues. This will be the first time and obviously looking forward to it because Delhi hasn’t won the Ranji Trophy quite a while, so it is going to be another motivation for me. Hopefully we can try and win Ranji Trophy.”
