Gambhir Dedicates T20WC Win to Dravid, Laxman; Thanks Jay Shah for Support

Team India made it back-to-back in the T20 World Cup, beating New Zealand by 96 runs to secure their third T20 World Cup title, a record-breaking one. With this, they have become the first-ever team to defend the title and also win it as a home side.

Following his side's victory during the pre-match presser, Gambhir said, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, "I think first of all I should dedicate this trophy to Rahul [Dravid] bhai, and then to VVS Laxman [bhai] because of what Rahul bhai has done to keep Indian cricket in such a good shape during his tenure, I have to thank him for everything. And then VVS Laxman for unconditionally doing so much for Indian cricket behind the doors, because the CoE remains the pipeline for Indian cricket. And third is obviously Ajit Agarkar, because he does take a lot of flak, but the amount of honesty he has shown with..."

He also thanked the International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Jay Shah, who was the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary during T20WC 2024 win for his support, saying that he was the one who called him during his low phases, such as Test series losses to New Zealand in 2024, which marked end of India's 11 year unbeaten run and the 0-2 whitewash to World Test Champions South Africa last year.

"And last but not least, I have to thank Jay [Shah] bhai, because not many people have actually called me when I went through the lowest moments in my tenure, whether it was after New Zealand, whether it was after South Africa, the only person who called me actually was Jay bhai. And I have to thank him for trusting me with this job, because I very well remember this, that when I was given this job, I had no experience of being the head coach of any franchise or any team, but trusting me with this job, so I have to thank these guys. And I think till these guys are there, I think Indian cricket is in very, very safe hands," he added.

Gambhir also said that it was the team that made him win, since one is as good as a captain/coach as their players are.

"So I think the credit needs to go to the players for the way, the professionalism and, most importantly, the bravery with which this tournament was played. As the captain said, in bilateral, we used to play in different ways, but in ICC tournaments, we play in different ways. That was one thing we wanted to change, and I am sure everyone has seen that. If you make more than 250 runs in the semi-final and final, it just shows the quality and bravery and courage with which this tournament was played," he said.

Gambhir also said that the team did not want to be afraid of losing and did not want to play a safe brand of cricket, prioritising 160-170 scores, but rather scores of 250 runs or more.

"The most important thing in the T20 format is that we didn't want to be afraid of losing. Because if you are afraid of losing, you never win. I always believe that 'high risk, high reward' is a very important thing in this format. I would have been happier if we had been out at 110-120. But our target is always to make 250 runs. We did not want to play 160-170 cricket. I think for too long we played 160-170 cricket," he added.

Gambhir also spoke on bringing Sanju midway into the playing XI after a poor New Zealand series to break a leftie-dominant top-order, calling it a tactical change. He also said that Sanju was "never out of form" and just needed a break after a poor NZ series in which he scored just 46 runs in five matches.

"Sometimes it is good as a leadership group to give someone a break as well. Because you want to go off the pressure, and then you want to just clean up your head and all that stuff, and then come back. So obviously, we had the luxury of playing different combinations as well. And that is the depth of that squad is that we had Rinku (Singh) batting at that number (down the order), and then we felt that probably we needed to break that three left-handers at the top. And not from a point of view where we felt that off spinner was an issue. Trust me. It was never a discussion that off-spinner is going to create a lot of problems for our two left-handers at the top," he said.

He also said that the team wanted someone of Sanju's ability and power at the top, and they had full faith in Sanju's talents and batting in the nets.

"And how well has he delivered for us? I remember someone coming back and scoring that consistently in all three games, or probably all four games. So I felt that it is very, very - we are very blessed as a team and as a coach and captain that the amount of depth we have in that dressing room. Because we could have played three, four, five combinations. We could have played two wrist spinners. We could have played batsmen till number 8 - we could have had different combinations at the top. We had three openers who could bat at any time at the top. So I felt that it was never about being courageous. It is also about being tactical," he added.

Coming to the match, NZ won the toss and elected to field first. However, a return-to-form, record-breaking fifty from Abhishek Sharma (52 in 21 balls, with six fours and three sixes) and his 98-run stand with Samson made NZ regret the decision. Later, Samson stitched a century stand with Ishan Kishan (54 in 25 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes) to take India past the 200-run mark in the 16th over. After a brief slowdown, Shivam Dube (26* in eight balls, with three fours and two sixes) made some valuable runs to take India to 255/5, the highest total in T20WC finals.

James Neesham (3/46) was the leading wicket-taker for NZ.

In the run-chase of 256 runs, Axar Patel (3/23) and Jasprit Bumrah (4/15) reduced the Kiwis to 72/5, despite a half-century from Tim Seifert (52 in 26 balls, with two fours and five sixes). Despite a brief partnership between Daryl Mitchell (17) and skipper Mitchell Santner (43 in 35 balls, with three fours and two sixes), India kept chipping in with wickets, and the Kiwis were bundled out for just 159 runs.

- ANI