AUS v IND 2018-19: Gautam Gambhir believes sledging is part of the game

Gambhir suggests Kohli to stick with the winning combination.

Indian should not take Australia lightly | Getty Images

Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir believes that the sledging is part of the game “as long as it doesn’t cross a line” saying humans are not “robots” and they bound to show emotion and make mistakes even on the field.

While impressing with India’s 31-run victory in Adelaide — a first win in an opening Test for the visitors Down Under after 2008 in Australia, Gambhir warned Virat Kohli and his troops to do not take the hosts lightly as formidable fast-bowling trio — Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins — and spinner Nathan Lyon can turn things anytime at home.

Gambhir further went on to insist that Kohli should stick with the winning combination and avoid rotating spots as the current national side is wary of the hosts, saying: “You can’t really take Australia lightly. The four pose a threat, especially without a set opening attack.”

Meanwhile, he also urges media to stop hurling the ball-tampering scandal, saying: “We’re humans – humans are bound to show emotion, humans are bound to make mistakes. If not, we might as well have robots playing on the pitch. The incident, whomever it involved … the individuals concerned were punished for it, let’s not make too much of a hue and cry about it anymore.”

On his career after cricket, the former left-hander said, “I don’t know, I did nothing but play cricket for 25 years. I don’t know if I’d be good at anything else. Now that I’ve retired from cricket, I have to sit down and think, on what will excite me now.”

Gambhir signed off by saying, “I don’t know … but I do know that whatever I do next, I aim to do it with the same kind of commitment … and do it for a very long time. I’m not the kind of guy that can keep switching professions — if I’m in it, I’m in it for the long haul.”

(With Economic Times Inputs)

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 15 Dec, 2018

    Share Via