 "Exclusive | 'Maybe Hardik Pandya is a leader and Suryakumar is a strategist and both are gelling': Ex-Mumbai captain Milind Rege")
If the comprehensive 4-1 series win against England in the recent T20I series proves something beyond any doubt, it’s that the shortest format of the game is currently Team India’s biggest strength. In 2024, they had won 24 of the 26 T20Is they played and were crowned T20 world champions. Under Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy, the team is maintaining some very high standards.
What is also a huge confidence booster is the sight of youngsters like Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Arshdeep Singh and Ravi Bishnoi putting up consistent performances, making it impossible for the selectors to ignore them. But at the same time captain Suryakumar Yadav’s own batting form is a concern. India’s Mr. 360 degree seems to have lost his golden touch and averaged less than six in the five-match series against England.
Surya being chosen as India’s long-term T20I captain , ahead of Hardik Pandya, was seen as a good choice, considering the question mark that hangs over Hardik’s consistent availability, but Surya will have to start scoring big again, soon.
One thing that this commanding series win will do though is give coach Gautam Gambhir, who has been in the firing line of the critics since he took over as head coach, some breathing space. The former India opener will now be focusing on every strategy possible to help the team win the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy, where India will play all their games in Dubai, including the knockouts, however far they progress.
Former Mumbai captain and chief selector and cricket advisor to the Mumbai Cricket Association, Milind Rege, spoke exclusively to Firstpost about Surya, Gambhir, as well as other big talking points in Indian cricket, like senior team players being asked to return to domestic cricket, to be eligible for national selection and Jasprit Bumrah as future India Test captain…
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThis is part 2 of an exclusive interview with Mr. Milind Rege. You can read part one of the interview by clicking the link here.
Excerpts….
Let’s talk about a couple of individual players. First, Suryakumar Yadav as T20I captain. He was picked as a long-term option, ahead of Hardik Pandya, because of the question mark over Hardik’s continuous availability. He has said that he has a good working relationship with Hardik, who he will play under in the IPL at the Mumbai Indians. Your take on Surya being picked as the T20I skipper. Good choice, you would say?
Rege: At the moment, Surya seems to be doing well. But what is bothering me about Surya now is that over the last 10 innings or so, he hasn’t scored runs (He scored a total of 28 runs in five innings in this five-match series which India won 4-1). Is the captaincy burden seeing him sacrifice his own potential? I don’t know. His only interest at heart is to win. Earlier when he was (just a) player his entire focus was to win (the match) for the team (as a batter). So, the burden of captaincy is there, but he seems to be mature. You see Surya on the ground – he seems to be leading a good pack of players and there’s no question of one player gelling well with the other.
Everybody (in the team) has one goal (winning the match for the team). I am sure people like Hardik (Pandya) and all the others who are there, are playing only for the sake of the Indian team. They have no grudge about who the captain is and who is not. T20 also is a totally different format so when Surya says – ‘go and express yourself’ – T20 will have to be played that way, because every dot ball is a disaster. So, the players are told – ‘go and hit as many sixes as you want.’ That’s how the game has changed in the last 14-15 years in T20 cricket. The IPL has changed the entire face of the game, so people like Abhishek (Sharma) and others – they only attack.
So, it’s a different ball game altogether. As far as my opinion is concerned, I think Surya is doing a very good job. Making a change is the worst thing. It sets the team back. It’s a retrograde step – changing a captain too often. If you are convinced that a captain is doing a good job, yes wins do matter, but if you feel that he is leading the team, it’s a very good thing.
There is a difference between a captain and a leader. Maybe Hardik Pandya is a leader and Surya is a strategist and both (are) gelling. That’s how it should be. And I am very happy with the way the Indian T20 team is playing, because they are really champions. They are slaughtering everybody. The performance in the T20Is (vs England) was par-excellence and England were really flattened. So, well done India and Surya. Keep flying the flag high.
Switching from T20Is to Test cricket – what about Jasprit Bumrah as next India Test captain after Rohit Sharma? Many believe he is the best man available for Test captaincy. Your take on that…
Rege: As things stand, yes. Strategically, Bumrah has been good . He has got Virat Kohli to help him. He knows what’s needed, his track record is excellent. While Bumrah is there, there is nobody else in that team who can lead. Bumrah is an experienced man. So, as of now, yes (Bumrah is the best choice to take over as Test captain after Rohit), but long-term I don’t know, because at the end of it all, a captain has to play all five Test matches.
Then what happens is that if Bumrah suffers an injury or is unfit, then the entire balance of the team (could be affected) – who to make captain. As long as Virat is available in the team and Rohit for whatever reason is not fit or not playing, then Virat is there to guide him or be a stand-in captain. But, yes, one will have to look at the future for captaincy.
We are talking about certain players to lead the team. Even, as of now, making them vice-captains, making them potential captains – that’s a very good thing, but those players also have to perform well. Some of the players are touted as future India players, future India captains (also) need to perform. They look good on the field, but they also need to perform.
What about those players who are performing in domestic cricket? Are you going to give them an opportunity or not? After all these players who are playing for India were given an opportunity because they performed in domestic cricket. So, it’s a very fine balance between what to do and what not to do. And I am sure the powers that be are looking at it positively.
Let’s talk about one part of the BCCI ‘diktat’ that came in recently – players asked to go back to domestic cricket as and when possible, for them to be eligible for national selection. We have seen some of the ‘star’ players playing Ranji Trophy cricket recently as a result of this. Is this a good move, according to you? Should Indian players, regardless of their stature play more domestic cricket going forward, not just when they have a break and the schedule is lenient, but also when they find themselves out of form?
Rege: There’s been so much cricket for these international players – about 150 days of cricket, including IPL. Also, there are too many teams now playing cricket. What the board (BCCI) should do now is make layers of cricket, like Ravi Shastri suggested that Test cricket should have layers. If you are going to play against some weak team, what does a player gain by scoring runs over there?
At the same time, they need time off to get over their injuries. But at the end of it all, the selectors will have to decide that if a player is a failure in Test cricket or whatever cricket he is playing and for him to come back to that position again – all he has to do is to show his form.
Where does he show his form? By going and playing domestic cricket. Now, it is entirely up to the player to say – “Look, I am out of form. I need to go and play domestic cricket.’ Leave that choice to him. But do not allow that choice to be made by him, just because he feels – “I have had enough and I don’t want to go and play a lower level.’ Also having played cricket at such a high level, for such a sustained period of time, there is zero motivation for these players to go and play the lower class of cricket. All these things have to be taken into account before diktats are issued.
Basically, it should come from within the player that – ‘look, I want to go back (to domestic cricket). I am not scoring the runs. I want to have a good innings, so that I hit the ball well. The fact remains that I must get back to the game.’ So, it works both ways. As long as the players show honesty in their intentions that - ‘I need to play domestic cricket because I need to get back to form’ – like many former players say – ‘you may bat very well in the nets, or you may bat horribly in the nets, how you bat out there (in the middle) is important, because one mistake and you are (back) in the dressing room.’
So, domestic cricket is important. Why are we waking up so late to all these ‘diktats’? Because we have lost? ( to Australia in the last edition of the Border Gavaskar Trophy ) Everything was hunky dory when we won, so why are these rules (coming up) now? So, let’s leave it to the player and let the player be honest about it.
One of the biggest talking points in recent times in Indian cricket has been the appointment of Gautam Gambhir as head coach. Though there has been a fair bit of criticism, it has to be mentioned that it’s been less than seven months since he took over the reins. What is your take on what we have seen so far of Gautam, the coach?
Rege: I don’t know Gautam Gambhir that well, but from what I see – he is a no-nonsense man. His entire interest is to see that India wins or that India is at the top. So, to cast aspersions on his coaching style will not be fair. We don’t know what happens in the dressing room, what he says in the dressing room , does he smile or not. Rahul Dravid never smiled and yet he was an effective coach because of his stature.
Gautam Gambhir has also played about 50-60 Test matches for India (58), so he has stature. Players with stature need to be there to tell the players what not to do. What to do everybody knows. There’s no doubt in my mind that Gautam Gambhir only has India’s interests at heart. All this talk about him being pro X and pro Y and saying this and that is all just conjecture, because we don’t know what happens in the dressing room. Each and every player knows what he is responsible for, Gautam Gambhir will be showing the way.
The coach’s job is to show the way. Look at a football coach – he is much, much tougher on his players than a cricket coach, because the style of construction is different. A football coach is really the boss. A cricket coach is not the boss, he only enhances performances of the team. So, let’s give Gautam Gambhir a chance. Let’s not hang him so early. His first tough tour was Australia. Now he will go to England (five-Test tour from 20 June to 4 August), he will adjust, the players will adjust. So, let’s give him the opportunity.
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