SYDNEY: From the positives out of the 3-1 loss to how he communicates to whether he wants the players to take part in last round of Ranji Trophy to the future of Rohit Sharma and Viraat Kohli , India head coach Gautam Gambhir addressed a few things after the six-wicket loss in Sydney that saw India concede the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia on day three. Excerpts.
On positives from the series
There are a lot of positives. There are a lot of these boys who are on their first tour to Australia. Be it Yashasvi Jasiwal, Nitish K Reddy, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, all those guys, I don't want to mention about individuals. But I think the attitude of Mohammed Siraj was outstanding.
On what lies ahead
Look, it's too early to talk about it. I think we still have five more months to plan where we want to head towards. Forms change, people change, attitude changes, everything changes in sport. Let's see before the England series what's going to happen. But whatever will happen, will happen for the best interest of Indian cricket.
On whether out of form players should play last rounds of Ranji Trophy
I would always like everyone to play domestic cricket. That is how much importance domestic cricket needs to be given. Not only one game, if they are available and they have the commitment to play red ball cricket, everyone should play domestic cricket. As simple as it can get. If you don't give importance to domestic cricket, you will never get the desired players what you want in Test cricket.
On future of Rohit and Virat
I can't talk about the future of any player, it's up to them as well. But yes, what I can say is that they still have the hunger, they still have the passion, they're tough people and hopefully they can continue to take Indian cricket forward but ultimately as we all know that whatever they plan, they will plan for the best interest of Indian cricket.
On his responsibility
There are very honest players in our dressing room who know how hungry they are. As far as my question is concerned, my biggest responsibility is that I have to be fair to everyone in that room. If I am fair with only two or three individuals and not with others, then I am being dishonest to my job. So, whether it is a player who has not made a debut yet or a player who has played 100 Tests, my simple aim of my job is that I have to be absolutely fair and equal to everyone.
On keeping dressing room happy
Yes, happiness will always be intact. Because the reason is that all we can do is try and prepare to the best of our ability, try and be 100% committed on the field, not only on that particular day, every session, every hour, every ball. If you're committed to what we are doing with honesty, I think that should be fine. I know we haven't got the results and it is frustrating. But whatever we can do with the best interest of Indian cricket, that will continue to happen in the dressing room.