New Delhi: It was four years ago when Gautam Gambhir made his Test debut against the same opposition. Although India won that game on a minefield in Mumbai, Gambhir made for little impact which was followed by indifferent form that saw him on the sidelines soon after, with a Test hundred against Bangladesh to boot.
But looking at his back-to-back hundreds in Mohali and Delhi, both of which came under significantly different circumstances, it’s hard to think Gambhir took this long to make the transition.
“When I made my debut against Australia, I was too nervous. I put too much pressure on myself because I wanted to score runs against them badly,” Gambhir lamented on a game which is more remembered for a part-time spinner’s exploits.
The left-hander, however, now looks the part. After being dismissed as merely a dasher in the One-Day variety for a large part of his career, he has come of age in this series.
“I motivated myself to do well against Australia. I have often been criticised for not going on to make bigger scores after getting good starts. But this time I thought that if I was getting 60s and 70s, a hundred was just around the corner,” he pointed out, also recalling a forgettable debut on his home ground against Sri Lanka two years ago.
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From the look of it, that rush of blood looked around the corner. He was batting on 99 when he gave Shane Watson the charge. But audacity transforms into genius when it comes off.
“The only option I had was to go for it. There were fielders all around me, and it could have been risky trying to pinch a single,” he said, adding the shot wasn’t “pre-meditated” at all.
Between two back-to-back Test innings, Gambhir has showed he has the hunger for the big score as well as the versatility to counter varied situations.
“Mohali was different in the way that I was batting with a lot of freedom. We already were 200 runs ahead so I could play my shots. But here it was important to get set. Brett Lee and Stuart Clark were bowling very well in the morning session.”
His batting was bordering on perfection on Wednesday. He buckled down with Sachin Tendulkar when Australia were on top, scratched around when Sachin Tendulkar was in sublime touch, and then unleashed his own version of “shoot on sight” as India finished in control of the third Test.
Like he did against the swinging old ball. “I bat out of my crease in Test cricket to meet the reverse swing early, and negate it as much as I can.”
However, he knows he has to carry on. “We have got a good start to the Test match, but it’s important for us to continue with the good work and score enough runs to get them out twice.”
Batting on 149, Gambhir looks set for bigger things only if he doesn’t repeat what he used to. The only difference is, he’ll be forgiven this time.
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