Team’s win is more important than scoring a century: Gambhir

Adelaide: For Gautam Gambhir, contributing for his team’s cause is more important than personal milestones and he has shown that on a number of occasions. If it was his 97 in the 2011 World Cup final that saw India lift the cup after 28 years, today’s 92 was as crucial in India’s win against the Aussies that will go a long way in boosting India’s battered confidence Down Under.

Speaking after getting the man-of-the-match award, Gautam Gambhir said that it was a good feeling to contribute to the team’s win. “Winning is far more important than attaining some individual goals. I have always believed in this. It would have been good if I would have scored a century, but it’s good to score a 90 and win a match for the team,” said Gambhir on missing out a century.

Praising skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for his cool attitude and his last over heroics in the match today, Gambhir said that Dhoni has always been a good finisher. “He stays calm and that important in these situations,” he said.
He also especially mentioned Yuvraj Singh during the presentation ceremony, stating that his good friend belongs to this place and he will be here soon. “Wishing you a speedy recovery. May you get well soon,” said Gambhir.

MS Dhoni said that timing of his six in the last over did the trick. “It was a good match. The timing of my six was fantastic. If our batsmen wouldn’t have played bad shots we would have won more comfortably. It’s important to win as we want to put pressure on the other teams. But today also we played a few shots which we should hot have played. During the 11-30 overs we need to consolidate the good start which we tend to forget. We need to work on that,” said Dhoni.

After the match Australian captain Michael Clarke said, “We had a good match. The last over changed everything. We all know how dangerous Dhoni is in this format, he has done it before and he did it today as well. Forrest plaid really well. It’s not that bad to lose a few games as it will make us come strong in the matches to come.”

However Clarke called the fielding effort horrible and said that Australia will need to be much better if they are to win matches in the rest of the competition. "I think it's concentration more than anything. If you look at myself, Ricky Ponting and also Dave Warner, we fumbled a few balls tonight, and we are better than that. You can't blame anyone else when you are not performing as well as you like. We just got to make sure we are concentrating, and we are ready for every ball. Adelaide Oval is as nice a ground as anywhere in the world. It's a beautiful outfield, very flat. We have no excuses for our performance tonight. We just weren't good enough," said Clarke.