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MUMBAI: 213, 221, 297, 202, 219, 283, 247. Seven times in 15 games while batting first in T20Is, since Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav (SKY) combined as coach and captain, India have scored in excess of 200.
Yes, the 202, 221 and 287 in Durban, Centurion and Johannesburg respectively had VVS Laxman as coach as Gambhir was in charge of the Test team that was to travel to Australia, but the tactics of going hell for leather from Ball One, had the Gambhir stamp on it.
In those games, India have hit 135 fours and 112 sixes.
After trouncing England by 150 runs at the Wankhede in the fifth T20I on Sunday to collect a 4-1 series win, Gambhir lauded his players for embracing a high-risk approach.
In Pune, in the fourth T20I too, India, despite losing three wickets in the second over, kept attacking and ended with 181. “That’s the kind of T20 cricket we want to play. We don’t want to fear losing,” Gambhir told Star Sports.
“We want to play high-risk, high reward cricket. And these guys have adopted that ideology. The ideology of this T20 team is based on selflessness and fearlessness. In the last six months, these guys have done it day in, day out,” Gambhir added.
The coach said he was willing to accept the odd batting blow out. “We want to try and get to 250-260 regularly. And in trying to do that, there’ll be games where we’ll get bundled out for 120-130. That is what T20 cricket is all about. Unless you don’t play that high-risk cricket, you won’t get those big rewards. Come those big tournaments, we want to continue playing this way and don’t want to fear losing.”
SKY too felt that batting with intent is the only way out. “This is what we’ve spoken about. To play the brand of cricket we want to play and stick to it irrespective of what’s going to happen. It is a high-risk, high-reward game. But we’ll continue doing what works for us.”
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