Semis vs England: Gambhir offers his recipe to beat pressure of expectations

Arrogant, intolerant to criticism and often biased. No prizes for guessing that these charges have stuck to Gautam Gambhir during his one and-a-half year tenure, but one cannot deny that the feisty Indian chief coach knows a thing or two about handling pressure. Otherwise, he couldn’t have played those two priceless innings of 75 and 97 in the 2007 T20World Cup final and 2011 T20 World Cup final, respectively, to a winning cause.

After crossing the hurdle of a virtual quarter final against the West Indies in Kolkata on Sunday, Suryakumar Yadav and his men have tested themselves in two straight must-win games – first against Zimbabwe and then the Caribbeans. They had brought this situation upon themselves with a disastrous 76-run loss to South Africa, but what this kind of a campaign may do is to spur the squad to the cliché of peaking in right time.

The real battle lies ahead in the two possible remaining games and in Gambhir’s own words, there is a tough game at hand against a top drawer team like England in Wankhede conditions – which offers something for the pace bowlers early on. The pressure, much like the 2023 50-overs World Cup, will be undeniable on the hosts  but Gambhir’s recipe is to embrace it – a job easier said than done.

In a video released by BCCI, Gambhir has sent out a passionate plea to his boys: ‘’One thing is very clear, make sure that we don’t hide away from the pressure. We embrace it, we face it and if at any time we feel we are under pressure, make sure we take the positive route. Enjoy playing this game, this is what you play this game for, this sport for, this is what you've played all your life.

‘’Games like this at home, knockout kind of a game, so make sure we go out there excited, not any under pressure. Anytime for the next 40 overs if you feel the pressure, make sure we take the positive route. Okay, be brave, be courageous, enjoy it, enjoy playing for the country and most importantly, enjoy playing for each other,’’ Gambhir said.

‘’Okay, good luck. Skip. Good energy. Let’s go, boys, let’s go. Let’s go,’’ Gambhir added as if to set the tone of the team huddle ahead of a potentially explosive contest on Thursday evening.

India and England, one of cricket’s oldest rivalries, will add one more chapter with this clash. The fact that these two teams are facing each other for the third straight semi-final of a World T20 underlines their consistency – with the head-to-head showing 1-1. In 2022 Down Under, eventual champions Jos Buttler’s men registered a dominating 10-wicket win while two years, India came back into the game for a thumping 68-run win on their way to regaining the trophy.   

Significantly, both those contests were overseas ones and it would be the first marquee T20 tournament at home under Gambhir’s regime. His honeymoon period as a coach with the BCCI is long over – with two sweeping Test series defeats at home against New Zealand (2024) and South Africa (2025) sticking out like a sore thumb while the ICC Champions Trophy and Asia Cup in T20 format last year being the two worthwhile white ball successes to speak about.

An educated guess, hence, is anything short of becoming the first-ever country to defend the T20 World Cup may jeopardise Gambhir’s future with the Indian team – despite his contract running till the end of 2027 World Cup. This is a format where his comfort zone lies, and the good sign is virtually every individual had been putting their hands up when required must like the way ‘GG’ would like it to be.

Can he then break into one of his rare smiles on Sunday night at Ahmedabad? We will have to wait for few days to know about it but for now, his team has to be cross a major hurdle in the shape of England on Thursday evening first. Over then, to Wankhede…

Catch the match

Second semi-final

India vs England (Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai)

Start: 7 pm IST