Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], November 1 (ANI): Opener Abhimanyu Easwaran has lauded the influence of Team India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir, saying the 44-year-old’s experience and insights have played a significant role in refining his approach at the crease.
Gambhir is currently with the Men in Blue in Australia for the five-match T20Is, where the team is 0-1 down at the moment after the completion of the first two matches of the series.
The former Indian cricketer was appointed the head coach of the national team last July. Since then, under him, the Indian Cricket Team has managed to lift the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 at home and the Asia Cup title in Dubai earlier this year.
Expressing his views on Gambhir, Easwaran told ANI, “It has been really advantageous for me because he has played at the highest level of cricket. He was a very successful cricketer, and he was an opening batter just like me. I have talked to him a lot about batting, and I have learned a lot. It has had a good impact. We practice in things that will be beneficial according to the surface. We talk about those things a lot.”
From his international debut in 2003 till his retirement in 2016, Gambhir served India as one of its most prolific opening batters, partnering with Virender Sehwag to cause mayhem for bowlers at the top of the order.
In 242 international appearances, Gambhir scored 10,324 runs at an average of 38.95, with 20 centuries and 63 fifties in 283 innings. He is among 14 Indians to have 10,000 international runs.
From 2004-16, Gambhir wore India’s white Test colours on 58 occasions, scoring 4,154 runs at an average of 41.95, with nine centuries and 22 fifties in 106 innings and a best score of 206.
Once a number one Test batter, his two-year run from 2008-09, spanning 13 Tests, 1,861 runs at an average of 77.54 in 25 innings with seven centuries and seven fifties, earned him the ICC Test Player of the Year award for 2009. His 436-ball marathon 137 against New Zealand to save the Napier Test and win the series for India 1-0 stands as one of the finest performances by an Indian in overseas conditions.
In 147 ODIs from 2003-13, he made 5,238 runs at an average of 39.68, with 11 tons and 34 fifties.
Gambhir was at his peak during the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, finishing as the sixth-leading run-getter and second for his team with 393 runs in nine innings at an average of 43.66, with four fifties, including a 122-ball 97 against Sri Lanka in the final to chase down 275 in front of a packed Wankhede in Mumbai and bring the World Cup home after 28 years.
Easwaran, meanwhile, has been a domestic cricket stalwart for Bengal, with 107 first-class games, 8,070 runs at an average of 48.32 with the help of 27 centuries and 33 fifties. Yet, he continues to wait for his Test debut. (ANI)
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