The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
‘Putting team ahead of individuals is most important ideology’
Kolkata: Former India opener Gautam Gambhir, the frontrunner to take over as coach of the men's cricket team, said that putting team ahead of individuals is the bedrock of his coaching philosophy. “If you have the intent of keeping your team ahead of any individual, things will fall in place. If not today, tomorrow, if not tomorrow, someday it will fall in place," he said. But if you start thinking on that, or if you know that you need to help one or two individuals perform, then your team will only suffer. My job is not to make individuals perform. My job, as a mentor, is to make KKR win," Gambhir said at an Indian Chamber of Commerce event here.
“For me, the guru mantra is team first philosophy. I think team-first ideology, team-first philosophy is the most important ideology in any team sport,” he added.
Gambhir said everyone was a leader in the KKR camp which had a near-perfect campaign this year. Gambhir is the KKR mentor.
“Yes I was the leader but all of us in the dressing room made the change. it was about making Kolkata proud. It was morale responsibility for me to give something back to Kolkata,” he said. The former cricketer, who also captained India on a few occasions, however said that treating all members in a team equally is his approach.
“In a team sport, it's the team that matters the most. Individuals do play a role, individuals do contribute,” he said. “But I think if 11 people are treated equally, if 11 people have equal respect, if everyone is treated equally, given the same respect, same responsibility, same honour, you will achieve an unbelievable amount of success. You cannot have discrimination in a set up or in an organisation," he added.
Gambhir remained mum on queries about him becoming the next India head coach, saying on Friday that he doesn’t ‘see that far ahead.’
“I don’t see that far ahead. You are grilling me, asking me all tough questions. It is difficult to answer right now. All I can say is that I’m happy being here, just finished a brilliant journey (and) let’s enjoy that. I’m in a very happy space right now,” Gambhir said.
The term of current India coach Rahul Dravid ends after the ongoing T20 World Cup in USA and West Indies. The BCCI had invited applications for the post in mid-may and the deadline was May 27, the day after the IPL final.
In the event on friday, ga mb hi r also touched upon the fact that did not have any disappointment for not being able to captain India for a long run.