‘Honest words’: India may drop Rohit, name Bumrah captain for SCG Test

“Indian cricket will always be in safe hands while we’ve got honest people sitting in that room. Honesty is the most important thing for any transition. It is not about phasing out senior players or getting the youngsters in. The only thing that can keep you in that dressing room is the performance, and it starts from all of us.”

One sore point for many observers of the MCG Test, not least Sunil Gavaskar, were the dismissals of Rishabh Pant to a pair of aggressive shots when India may have been better-served by a more considered approach.

Gambhir refused to speak directly about Rishabh, but when asked about the “natural tendency” of some players to go on the attack, he emphasised the need for Test match players to put the team first and play the situation. It was the first time Gambhir had spoken since lashing out at Ricky Ponting when the team departed for Australia.

“There is only one tendency and only one discussion. It’s the team first and it’s the team first ideology that matters,” Gambhir said. “It’s a team sport, and you’ve got to play what the team needs you to do. People can play their natural game, but still in a team sport, individuals only contribute.

“In the team, if you need to play in a certain way, I think you’ve got to do it. You have to expect players to do what the team needs you to do. Whether you’ve got to bat sessions, whether they’ve got to be attacking, because that’s all that matters in a team sport.”

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