Just when whispers for his ouster were turning into loud calls, not without justification, the southpaw has reasserted his class.
After a horror run in Test cricket, where he went without a half-century for 10 innings before he notched up a scrappy 54 in Hyderabad late last month, the left-hander seems to have regained his run-scoring rhythm.
That unconvincing fifty was followed up by an authoritative 71 in Nagpur, and Gambhir continued his good work to light up the Sawai Mansingh stadium with a scintillating 138 not out against the Kiwis on Wednesday night.
More than the amount of runs, in itself significant, the assured manner in which he collected them was pleasing. There were a couple of inside-edged fours, but at the end of the day, they hardly mattered. “After scoring a century, I don’t think I have to worry about those edges. I didn’t struggle out there in the middle, and that’s what is important,” remarked Gambhir.
In the midst of his finest run last season, which saw the Delhiite hit eight hundreds in ten Tests including five in succession, Gambhir suddenly went off the boil with the onset of the new year, frequent injuries only compounding his miseries. He missed quite a few internationals and failed to make a mark whenever he was available. Scores of 12, 1, 25, 2, 0, 25, 0, 21 and 0 in Tests and 23, 15 and 38 in one-dayers before the Jaipur innings raised more than a few question marks over his form. It wasn’t an alarming situation, but there were a few worrying signs.
He was getting out mostly in the first over and hardly inspired confidence. With Murali Vijay stepping up the pressure, Gambhir had to perform, and quickly. “He hasn’t had a great year,” former India all-rounder Ravi Shastri told Deccan Herald. “But that’s because he has had a few injuries. It’s never easy to come back after those injuries.”
Gambhir missed two Tests in Sri Lanka and most of the subsequent triangular series in Dambulla. After a miserable first Test against Australia in Mohali, he had to sit out owing to a recurring knee injury.
“He is a terrific player but he needed to spend some time in the middle,” noted Shastri, terming the innings in Hyderabad as a turning point of sorts for the 28-year-old. “I remember that innings. It was scratchy, but he spent a good two and a half hours in the middle. That helped him a lot. His confidence is back and so are his runs.”
Gambhir, however, didn’t believe anything has changed drastically that led to the Jaipur century. “In the last one year, I have played in only nine ODIs and in those, I have scored three big fifties. I always felt I was doing well in ODIs, it was just a matter of time before I converted those starts into 100s. Luckily for me, it happened today,” he observed.
Shastri, himself a steely opener, was greatly impressed with the stand-in skipper’s match-winning knock in the second one-dayer. “Yesterday, he played a brilliant innings. It was the Gambhir of old. He didn’t try to hit the ball too hard, he just timed them well,” Shastri noted.
Gambhir’s captaincy too caught Shastri’s attention. “Given the resources he has, I think he was very good. He is a good thinker and learning all the time,” the former Indian skipper remarked. “His biggest strength is that he is a good listener. I am also happy to see him bowl Yuvraj. If I were to be a captain, I would have made Yuvraj bowl 6-7 overs every match on Indian pitches. He really is a useful bowler and we need him for his batting as well.”
Gambhir may have downplayed his aspirations of becoming a captain, but it is apparent that the temporary responsibility entrusted to him is rubbing off on his batting as well.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks