India head coach Gautam Gambhir with captain Suryakumar Yadav. (Photo Credit: BCCI) NEW DELHI: For Gautam Gambhir , there is one thought that trumps every statistic, every personal milestone and every century celebrated in the record books. Trophies matter. No milestones.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!India’s head coach reiterated that philosophy after India crushed New Zealand by 96 runs in the final to clinch their third ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title on Sunday. Even in the midst of celebrating a dominant, era-defining victory, Gambhir used the moment to remind everyone what really counts.
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“I think my simple philosophy with Surya has always been that milestones don’t matter. It’s the trophies that matter,” Gambhir said, referring to T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav. “We have been talking about milestones for too long in Indian cricket. And I hope we won’t be talking about milestones until I am there.”
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The former India spinner, who single-handedly scored two ICC finals for his team during his playing days, was sparing in his address to the media. His message was clear: stop glorifying individual numbers.READ ALSO: Fixed ideas, flexible tactics: How Gambhir helped India tame the fickle nature of T20“Stop celebrating milestones, celebrate trophies,” Gambhir said. “That will be important because the bigger point of a team sport is to win trophies, not to score individual runs. That has never mattered to me and it will never matter to me.”According to Gambhir, the current Indian team under Suryakumar has fully bought into this mindset. “I was very lucky that Surya and I were on the same page, especially in this area,” he added.He cited Sanju Samson’s performances during the business end of the tournament as a perfect example of this approach. Samson’s explosive knocks – including 97 not out in the virtual quarter-final and crucial scores in the semi-final and final – were built on team needs rather than personal landmarks.“You can see in the last three matches what Sanju has done,” Gambhir said. “Imagine if you played for a milestone, we probably wouldn’t get 250.Off the field, Gambhir also brushed aside the noise of social media criticism that often dogged him during India’s ups and downs.“My responsibility is not to any social media,” he said. “My responsibility is to the 30 people sitting in the dressing room.For Gambhir, the team environment itself is built on something deeper than results – trust.“You choose a team based on trust and faith. You don’t bet on hope,” he explained. “And when you pick somebody on trust and faith, you don’t lose that even after four or five games.”
