Gambhir Urges Team India: Keep Fit During Break Before Bangladesh Series

Gautam Gambhir commended the T20I team for their stellar 3-0 series win against Sri Lanka. He then issued a strong reminder to players taking a month-long break before the home series against Bangladesh in September.

Players like Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Ravi Bishnoi, and Rinku Singh are not included in the ODI series against Sri Lanka starting August 2.

Gambhir acknowledged that players deserve a break but stressed the importance of maintaining fitness and form during this period. He emphasized that players should not expect to rejoin the team without staying fit.

"Some of the guys will not be a part of the 50-overs format will have a longer break, so make sure when you come back for the Bangladesh series...you can take a break. You absolutely deserve it, but more importantly, keep your skills and especially the fitness levels high," Gambhir said in a video posted by the BCCI on Wednesday, July 31.

"You don't want to come for that series thinking that 'okay, I can just turn up, probably deliver for the team'. So make sure that from the fitness point of view, the fitness levels are right up there," he added.

Reports indicated that Hardik Pandya requested leave and asked selectors not to include him in the ODIs due to personal reasons. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar later explained that Suryakumar Yadav was given T20I captaincy due to uncertainties about Hardik's fitness and availability.

Gautam Gambhir Praises Surya's Captaincy

The newly-appointed coach lauded Suryakumar Yadav for his leadership and praised his team's fighting spirit even under pressure. Sri Lanka needed 30 runs off 30 balls with nine wickets remaining but lost seven wickets and fell short by one run, pushing the match to a Super Over where they eventually lost.

"Guys, congratulations on a great series win. Congratulations to Surya as well, outstanding captaincy and with the bat as well. I asked for something before the start of the game and you absolutely delivered it," Gambhir stated.

"This is what happens when you keep fighting, (and when) you don't give up. These kind of games happen and the only way these key games can happen (in favour) is when we keep fighting on every delivery and for every run and this was the example."

"We keep getting better, we keep improving our skills as well because we still need to get better on playing on wickets like these because we might end up getting these kind of wickets (in future).

"So we should first assess the situation and conditions really quickly and what is the par score as well," he said.