Gautam Gambhir is a person who lives in reality, rather than being a superstar. As an IPL player, he believes that nobody should expect themselves to be picked to the ODI side on the basis of IPL performance. He said while speaking to ESPNcricinfo, “Absolutely, I totally agree [that T20 numbers should not be the sole criteria for ODI selection].”
“T20 runs should only be a criteria to get selected for a T20 side. The moment you start picking players in the one-day format by their T20 performance, then you are giving your domestic 50-over competitions absolutely no relevance,” he concluded.
Gambhir said that he does not think of becoming a part of the Indian team when he is playing for KKR. He said, “The moment I start thinking about me scoring runs to be part of the Champions Trophy team, it would be a very, very selfish thing to do. And being a leader you can’t do that. If I start thinking on those lines, there may be so many other guys in the [KKR] team who would be thinking of being in the Champions Trophy squad too and they would be thinking about their own individual performances then. That’s not right. You should always stay in the present. Rest of the things are byproducts – if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t happen, it is fine. Ultimately I don’t play to get selected, I play to win a game of cricket.”
