India news – 2027 ODI World Cup – Gautam Gambhir on the fitness of Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah

“Whether it’s Hardik, whether it’s Jasprit Bumrah, they are going to be extremely important for us in [southern] Africa,” Gambhir said in an interview on JioHotstar. “Very few teams have players [like Hardik] who can bowl ten overs and give you runs from No. 6 or No. 7, that too with such impact. So the focus for us – especially for Hardik, who needs game time as well; he hasn’t played a lot of cricket since the IPL – if we talk about 50-over cricket, if we want to play him, he might be short of cricket.

“If he plays a little bit of T20 cricket and then gets to one-day cricket, because game time going into the World Cup is going to be extremely, extremely important. You can’t go to the World Cup half-cooked. So you must have enough game time and your rhythm should be good enough, because there are no ifs and buts when it comes to a World Cup. There are no chances to make mistakes.

“The same is with Jassi as well. With him, too, the thought process is how much one-day cricket we can make him play. Plus Test cricket is equally important. So it is going to be critical to figure out how much workload and game time is ideal.”

Figuring out a timeline for Hardik’s return to top-flight cricket is also critical. As Gambhir mentioned, he hasn’t played since IPL 2026 (and missed four games there too). Speaking during the recent ODI series between Afghanistan and India in Delhi, Gambhir had said that he didn’t “want to push” Hardik back to the national team in a hurry. Hardik – who Gambhir pointed out “cannot bowl ten overs” yet – will be making his comeback with the India A team in their series of one-day matches against Australia A.

“If those 11 or 15 don’t play together enough, more than the combination, the confidence of the captain is more important. Sometimes, T20 cricket comes in between and sometime you just don’t have the time you need, you can’t play everyone you want because of the three formats”
Gautam Gambhir on the importance of having the first-choice players fit and available

In these circumstances, getting the first-choice XI to play together enough in the lead-up to the World Cup could be tricky.

“The more the merrier,” Gambhir said when asked how many games together would be ideal. “I feel the more they play together… take the 15, or 16, one player here and there, our combination will be better the more they play together.

“Not just the combination, it will give the captain [Shubman Gill] more confidence. He will know how to use those 11 or 15 players. If those 11 or 15 don’t play together enough, more than the combination, the confidence of the captain is more important. Sometimes, T20 cricket comes in between and sometime you just don’t have the time you need, you can’t play everyone you want because of the three formats.”

‘I couldn’t sleep’ – Gautam Gambhir on dropping Sanju Samson

Gambhir called leaving out Sanju Samson for the T20I series against England after twin failures in Ireland, which came immediately after he was the Player of the Tournament in India’s victorious T20 World Cup campaign, was “the toughest decision in my coaching tenure in the T20 format”. But, he clarified, India needed to give Vaibhav Sooryavanshi a break at that point.

“In two years of my journey, that was the only night I could not sleep and I told this to Sanju because I knew that it was probably the toughest decision in my coaching tenure in the T20 format – to leave out someone who was Player of the Tournament after only three or four games,” Gambhir, who has been in the position since June 2024, said. “The reason was probably that Vaibhav was in that kind of form [Player of the Tournament at the IPL] as well, and we had to win the series.

“Because ultimately you are there and when you are playing for India, or when you are coaching India, you want to win each and every series possible. I had a very, very honest conversation with him [Samson] and I told him that that is one of the reasons why, because Vaibhav was in that kind of form and we needed someone to score runs at the top, we needed that little bit of a platform at the top as well. And he was fine with it. That’s a conversation which me and Sanju had, and he took it in good spirits.”

Since then, despite good performances from Sooryavanshi – he was the Player of the Series in India’s 3-0 T20I series win in Zimbabwe – Samson has rejoined Abhishek Sharma at the top of the order.

“I know, it is [tough on a young player like Sooryavanshi],” Gambhir said. “But then, I made him understand that I know you’re in good form, but sometimes with the players who have done well for a long time, you will have to wait for your opportunity.

“There’s one more thing – social media or outside noise doesn’t decide the playing XI. The playing XI is decided by who, in that dressing room, the coach and captain feel can win us the match, what is the best playing XI, and who have done well for such a long time.

“If Vaibhav plays today, then it’s going to be a tough conversation between me and whoever we leave out, whether it’s Abhishek or Sanju.”

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