India coach Gautam Gambhir stood by BCCI’s new family rule, saying that the players’ sole purpose is to make the nation proud. The BCCI rolled out a new set of guidelines for the players after the disastrous Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, which saw India get beaten 1-3.
Following this, BCCI set out the new rule, which limits the time spent by families with the players. Under the revised rules, families can accompany players for only 14 days during tournaments lasting 45 days or longer. For shorter tours, family stays are restricted to a maximum of seven days. Virat Kohli was someone who was very vocal about the rule and admitted he wasn’t a fan of it. Kohli said that he doesn’t want to head back to his room and sit and sulk without his family around.
Speaking to Cheteshwar Pujara in a special interview, Gambhir said that players should know they’re not on a holiday and are here to represent the nation. While the India coach admitted that he doesn’t mind having families around, the main focus has to be on cricket and said the players should be committed to the goal.
“Families are important, but you’ve got to understand one thing. You are here for a purpose. It’s not a holiday. You’re here for a huge purpose. You’ve got very few people in that dressing room or in this tour that gets this opportunity to make the country proud. So yes, I’m not against not having families with us.”
“It is important to have families, but if your focus is towards making our country proud and you have a much bigger role than any other thing, and you’re committed to that goal, you’re committed to that cause, I think everything else is fine. But for me, I think that cause and that goal is more important than any other thing,” said Gambhir.
How does Gambhir switch off from his job?
Gambhir was asked by Pujara how he switches off after a game and the Indian coach said he struggles to do that. Taking the Edgbaston Test win as an example, Gambhir said that he was already thinking ahead of the match at Lord’s and what the combination should be for the game.
“That’s a tough question. I still haven’t understood how do I switch off because I never switch off and sometimes it’s very funny and it’s very weird. Honestly, when we won the last test match, the moment we won the last test match, the first thing that came in my mind was that what is going to be the combination for the next Test?”
“And when I went back in my room, I was thinking, how does that work? We’ve just won a test match. The guys have worked hard to make a comeback after the first one, I already started thinking about what’s going to be the combination, how can we win the next one? but I still haven’t figured out honestly to switch off,” said Gambhir.
– Ends
