Hope Virat Kohli continues doing the same, says Gautam Gambhir after India’s ODI series win against South Africa

Gautam Gambhir stressed that Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad will be given opportunities wherever possible even when Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer return to the ODI squad.

After a series victory with Virat Kohli walking away with the Player of the Series award and Rohit Sharma silenced the doubters inside and outside the dressing room, head coach Gautam Gambhir indicated that there was no need to read too much into their performances with regard to the next 50-over World Cup, still two years away.

“They are world-class players and their experience is important in the dressing room. They’ve been doing it for a long time. Hopefully, they can continue doing the same, which is going to be important in the 50-over format,” Gambhir said after India’s nine-wicket win over South Africa in the series decider.

But he stressed that Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad will be given opportunities wherever possible even when Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer return to the ODI squad.

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Kohli and Rohit scored heavily in the series, but Jaiswal and Gaikwad also made centuries. When pressed about where the two seniors stood in terms of the 2027 World Cup, Gambhir said, “First you got to realise that the ODI World Cup is two years away. It’s important to stay in the present, and that young boys coming into the set-up grab their opportunities.”

“Someone like Rutu (Gaikwad) has batted out of position, but he’s a quality player. We wanted to give him an opportunity in this series, because of the kind of form he was in with India A. And he grabbed that opportunity with both hands when we were under pressure. Getting that kind of a 100 was proper quality. And Yashasvi as well, we’ve seen how much quality he has, especially in Test cricket. It’s just the start of his career, especially in white-ball cricket. Hopefully he has a massive future ahead and so does Rutu.”

Having retired from Tests and T20Is, there was plenty of scrutiny around Kohli and Rohit despite the two showing signs of regaining form in Australia. After being told to play domestic cricket to be eligible for selection, the duo made a statement in the series against South Africa. Kohli scored two centuries and an unbeaten 65 off 45 while Rohit had two fifties.

Gaikwad made a century while batting at No 4 and Jaiswal too finished the series with an unbeaten maiden hundred, but they are far from being assured of their spots for the next series against New Zealand in January. They are playing in place of Gill and Shreyas, captain and vice-captain in the format. But Gambhir said it is important to give them opportunities with an eye on the World Cup.

“Try and give them opportunities wherever we can, because we want a reasonable group of players – probably around 20-25 – before the World Cup. So whenever we are able to give them opportunities, we’ll do that. But once your captain and vice-captain are back, obviously they are your starters. They (Gaikwad and Jaiswal) should be ready whenever they get that opportunity,” Gambhir added.

During the press conference, Gambhir also reacted to criticism after the 0-2 Test series defeat at the hands of the Proteas.

“People said things that have nothing to do with cricket. An IPL team owner also wrote about split coaching. It’s important for people to stay in their domain. Because if we don’t go into someone’s domain, they also don’t have the right to come into our domain,” Gambhir said.

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