When we witnessed Gautam Gambhir struggle against the England, most of us believed that this might be it for Gautam Gambhir in international cricket. Yet here he is playing Test match after two years, scoring a 29 and a 50 in his comeback test at Indore and in the squad for the England Series as a first choice opener. When champions are provided with tough situations or big occasions, they seem to love every bit of that opportunity, and that’s what Gambhir is -- a champion -- the man who played a crucial role in the winning of both the T20 world Cup 2007 and the 2011 50 overs World Cup. In fact, his innings of 97 off 122 balls, chasing in the night of the World Cup final against the likes of Lasitha Malinga and Muttaih Muralitharan was perhaps one of the all time bests in World Cup history.
And so Gambhir did not give up, went back, scored runs and runs and runs, and when nobody expected it, opportunities came knocking at his door. With Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul injured, the selectors went with the experience and form of Gautam Gambhir.
Gambhir has done it time and again for his country. There was a time when everybody struggled but Gambhir was India’s savior. Once he got a 60-70, Gambhir would be very difficult to stop in the series because of his strengths of batting brilliantly against both the pace and spin. With his different stance, he is more likely to get more close to the ball and perhaps create an element of doubt in the bowler’s mind about his line and length.
With more than 4,000 runs at an average of around 41, Gambhir has done it in the past. If India win the toss and bat first they would need a solid partnership from Gambir and Murali Vijay, and that’s where Gambhir would be eager to perform. This is a second innings in International cricket that the only Indian to score five consecutive Test hundreds and to score more than 300 runs in four consecutive Test series deserves. We might never know, this innings might turn out to be more delightful than the first. And seeing Gambhir’s selection, we are also aware that this is surely not the end of Yuvraj Singh.
