We don't drop anyone, we select the best: Gautam Gambhir

Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir addressed the media in a pre-match conference ahead of the series opener against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. On Wednesday, September 18, Gambhir was thrown various questions and the New Delhi-born gave some smart answers.

Ahead of team selection for the upcoming series, names like Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Shami, and Rajat Patidar have been out of the scheme of things due to various reasons. However, the head coach stood firm on his statement that the team or the management does not drop any name, but rather pick their best available playing combination at that point in time.

“I think the most important thing is clear communication. See, we don't drop anyone. We only select the best playing 11. We think and do the job for that particular Test match,” Gambhir said as quoted by The Telegraph.

Easier to gell with Rohit, Virat because I've shared dressing room with them: Gambhir

Among many other, Gambhir was also asked to open up on the job as head coach and the kind of relationship he has with players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Notably, Gambhir has been a former teammate as well with Rohit and Kohli, and he believes that it has eased the task creating a camaraderie with the senior duo.

“It’s still early days (as coach). But the good part is that I have played with those guys (seniors). At one stage we were sharing the dressing room as players, when they were younger, who have now become experienced guys,” Gambhir said in the pre-match press meet here.

“When you have that kind of relationship, sometimes it gets much easier than building a relationship. Now the roles are different. The relationship we can build over a period of next couple of years. It's going to be very important, and now we should keep taking it a little bit forward because we've got massive challenges coming our way,” he added.

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Gambhir quashes rumours of false narratives

The 42-year-old also told that although he has had altercations with some of the senior players in the past, that has been negated even before joining the dressing room. Furthermore, the head coach also told that when the passion to play or represent India is there, other things don't matter much to him or other players for that matter. The former cricketer opined that the heart needs to be in the right place when representing a team or a unit.

“Sometimes people have made a lot of hue and cry about these things. But that's not true. My relationship with everyone in the dressing room team has been really, really good.

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"More importantly I think the heart needs to be in the right place. When the passion is there, I think a lot of things can ease. I think the desire to win each and every time when we walk onto the cricket field, it's there. So, I think we've started off really well,” said Gambhir.