The term ‘selfless’ became closely associated with Rohit Sharma during the 2023 World Cup for his batting style, but it was Gautam Gambhir who first promoted this approach a year before the ICC event.
Although India lost the 2023 ODI World Cup final to Australia, they played outstanding cricket throughout the tournament, remaining unbeaten until the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Under Rohit’s leadership, India got off to explosive starts, often at the expense of his own wicket. This approach contrasted sharply with the 2022 T20 World Cup, where players were more reserved, leading to a heavy 10-wicket semifinal loss to England in Adelaide.
Interestingly, before the ICC event, former India cricketer Gambhir had urged the batters to embrace a selfless approach, focusing on the team rather than records and statistics.
“The mindset of scoring runs, and effective ones, with the help of which your team wins. No point in scoring runs that just go in your records or fifties or hundreds. Even if you make 40 or even 20, make it at such a rate that it helps your team post 170-180. And if you’re chasing, make sure that it takes the pressure off your middle order,” he had commented.
“When you go in such tournaments, you have to keep your personal records at home. Individual records don’t matter in such tournaments. Even if you score 200 runs in the tournament and your team wins, that will be your legacy. But if you score 500 runs and the team gets knocked out, then those runs are of no use,” Gambhir had added.
Virat Kohli was India’s top run-scorer in the 2022 T20 World Cup, amassing 296 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 136.40. Suryakumar Yadav also contributed 239 runs at a strike rate of 189.68. However, India could only post a modest 168-6 in the semifinal against England, a total that was chased down in 16 overs.
Gautam Gambhir succeeded Rahul Dravid as head coach after India’s 2024 T20 World Cup victory
India ended their 11-year ICC title drought by winning the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA, defeating South Africa in a thrilling final in Barbados. The Men in Blue batted selflessly throughout the tournament, as Gambhir had advocated a few years earlier.
Interestingly, the former India opener replaced Rahul Dravid as the national head coach following Dravid’s tenure, which concluded after India’s triumph in the ICC event.
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