Gautam Gambhir determined to reclaim spot in Indian team

Gautam Gambhir of India leaves the field after being dismissed during day one of the Second Test Match between Australia and India at Sydney

Gautam Gambhir, who has been out of the Indian squad for some time now, is desperate to reclaim his spot. The opener took giant leaps towards achieving the same, after an impressive showing in the Ranji Trophy for domestic team Delhi.

The left hander expressed his disappointment at being ignored for the upcoming New Zealand series. However, the resiliant batsman is now targeting the England and Australian series to show the world he belongs here.

“It’s a reality that I am not in the team to New Zealand. I wish all the 16-17 guys best of luck for the tour. As I have maintained that I don’t play for comebacks, I play the game because I still have that hunger to perform,” Gambhir told PTI in an interview.

He goes on to say, “I want to be part of the team that wins a Test series in England and Australia. This is what drives me on as in my 54 Tests, we only won a series in New Zealand and drew in South Africa,”

In relation to the accusation of being selfish by batting on flat tracks to score more runs for Delhi, The 32-year old defends himself.

“I have never played cricket for selfish reasons like scoring 800-900 runs on flat tracks to make a comeback. It’s upto an individual and I am not one of those guys who would back out from competition. The Delhi team needed outright wins and I insisted on playing on green top at the Roshanara rather than on a flat track. Had I played on a flat track, I could have got close to 900 runs. I have never ever played cricket that way with such selfish motives,” Gambhir said.

The Delhi born player, who was once the mainstay at the top of the order for India in international cricket, surrendered his position to Shikhar Dhawan due to a poor run of form, and has not had a look in since.