Gautam Gambhir, the coach of India, defended the BCCI's new family rule, stating that the players' only goal is to represent the country with pride. Following the dismal Australia trip, the BCCI released a new set of rules for the players.
After this, the BCCI announced a new regulation that restricts the amount of time families can spend with the athletes. Families are only permitted to stay with participants for 14 days during tournaments that run 45 days or more, according to the updated regulations. Family stays are limited to no more than seven days for shorter tours.
One player who was quite outspoken about the regulation was Virat Kohli, who stated that he didn't want to go back to his hotel and pout alone without his family.
Players should understand that they are here to represent the country and are not on vacation, according to Gambhir. Although the Indian coach said that he doesn't mind having family around, he insisted that the players must be dedicated to the cause and that cricket must be the primary emphasis.
"Families are important, but you've got to understand one thing. You are here for a purpose. It's not a holiday. You're here for a huge purpose. You've got very few people in that dressing room on this tour who get this opportunity to make the country proud. So yes, I'm not against not having families with us.
It is important to have families, but if your focus is towards making our country proud and you have a much bigger role than any other thing, and you're committed to that goal, you're committed to that cause, I think everything else is fine. But for me, I think that cause and that goal are more important than any other thing," said Gambhir to Cheteshwar Pujara for Sony Sports Network.
When Pujara asked Gambhir how he shuts down after a game, the Indian coach said that he finds it difficult. Gambhir used the Edgbaston Test victory as an example when he stated that he was already considering the combination for the game before the match at Lord's.
"That's a tough question. I still haven't understood how do I switch off because I never switch off, and sometimes it's very funny and it's very weird. Honestly, when we won the last test match, the moment we won the last test match, the first thing that came to my mind was what is going to be the combination would be for the next Test?
"And when I went back to my room, I was thinking, how does that work? We've just won a test match. The guys have worked hard to make a comeback after the first one. I already started thinking about what's going to be the combination, how we can win the next one? But I still haven't figured out how to switch off," said Gambhir.
