‘Will Play That Way’: India Coach Embraces ‘High Risk-High Reward’ Tactic for Players to Push Limits

Team India's latest win at the Kanpur Test Match was something which will go down in the record books. They managed to make history after breaking multiple records in the match-up and eventually winning it all despite losing almost 2.5 days of play. The Gautam Gambhir era has helped the players to be open and take risks, and the head coach wants them to continue with the same high-risk intent and approach in the future.    

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Gautam Gambhir Won’t Hit the Brakes on India’s Aggressive Bazball-Like Approach in Matches

While speaking to the media ahead of the India vs New Zealand Test match in Bengaluru, Gautam Gambhir said that he doesn't intend to restrict Team India's batters from going strong-willed and aggressive as they bat even if the team gets bowled out for 100 in certain occasions. The head coach added that he wants the team to keep their game up as they move forward and get the desired results.

"Why do we need to hold on to people? If they can play the natural game, if they can get 400-500 runs in a day, why not? We will play it that way — high risk, high reward, high risk, high failure.

"There will be days when we'll get bundled out for 100 and we'll take it up then. But we'll continue to back our players to go out there and play high-risk cricket. That's how we want to keep the game going forward and get the results in whatever situation we are in," Gautam Gambhir said.

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Gambhir's comments reflect the time when Team India dished out an aggressive style of batting in red-ball cricket when they faced off against Bangladesh at the Green Park Stadium. India's bazball-style approach helped them win the series 2-0 against the Bangla Tigers. But the New Zealand challenge will be arduous, and Gambhir expects the team to play 'hard cricket'.

"New Zealand is a completely different challenge. We know that they're a very, very good team and they've got some really high-quality players. They've got players who can hurt us. They keep fighting. So, three Test matches are going to be a huge challenge," said Gambhir.