The mentor of the new IPL franchise, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Gautam Gambhir said that he wants the players of the team thinking of playing for the franchise and not for India in the upcoming IPL 2022.
He believes that if they think of playing for the national team during the IPL, they are being "dishonest".
Gautam Gambhir has had great success in the Indian Premier League. The southpaw led Kolkata Knight Riders to title victory two times in IPL 2012 and 2014. Apart from this he also has been a prolific run-getter in the tournament.
Read Also: Lucknow skipper KL Rahul explains logic behind Stoinis and Bishnoi’s signing for upcoming IPL
In a chat with veteran journalist Boria Majumdar on Backstage with Boria, Gautam Gambhir said when he captained the side in IPL he always said that he don’t want players with thinking of playing for India.
He remarked that now being a mentor for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) he wants players with thinking of playing for the franchise as playing for India is just the byproduct.
"When I’ve captained, I have always said I don’t want players thinking of playing for India. I want players thinking of playing for the franchise. Playing for India is just the byproduct," Gautam Gambhir said.
Gambhir said if a player in his side thinks that LSG will give him the platform to play for India then will he be dishonest to the franchise.
"If you think of playing for India and you start saying that Lucknow gives me that platform to play for India, then you are being dishonest to the franchise. But if you were to play for Lucknow and deliver it for Lucknow, eventually you will end up playing for India,” he said.
Read Also: Twitterati troll Lucknow franchise for keeping team name similar to now-defunct Pune franchise
Gambhir said that his aim as a mentor for LSG will be to win the tournament for the franchise and would not want players to think of playing for India.
"So probably in those two months, I would not want any of the players saying or thinking that my job or my ultimate aim is to play for India. Their ultimate aim for those two months is to win the tournament for the franchise. And if they look to do that with their performances, they will eventually go on to play for India,” he said.
Gautam Gambhir further highlighted that IPL is not a platform to go on to play for India, but it is for showcasing their talent and that’s how players should think about it.
"And IPL is not a platform to go on to play for India. IPL is a platform to showcase your talent to the world, and that is how players should think about it," he said.
Lucknow Super Giants signed KL Rahul for a whopping amount of INR 17 Crores and will also captain the side in the IPL 2022. The other picks of the franchise were Australia's Marcus Stoinis for INR 9.2 Crores and Ravi Bishnoi for INR 4 Crores.
The franchise will enter IPL 2022 mega auction with a purse of INR 59.80 crore.
(TimesNow inputs)
