Gautam Gambhir, India’s head coach, dedicated the T20 World Cup victory against New Zealand to Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Ajit Agarkar and Jay Shah. He highlighted India’s shift in approach at ICC tournaments, focusing on aggressive batting and aiming for 250 runs rather than conservative totals.
Published Date – 9 March 2026, 12:04 PM
Ahmedabad: Gautam Gambhir, head coach of the Indian team that had won the T20 World Cup here outplaying New Zealand in the final on Sunday, dedicated the Cup to his predecessors Rahul Dravid and the head of BCCI Centre of Excellence VVS Laxman even while thanking chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and the former BCCI Secretary Jay Shah.
“Because what Rahul bhai has done to keep Indian cricket in such a good shape during his tenure, I have to thank him for everything. And then VVS Laxman for unconditionally doing so much for Indian cricket behind the doors, because the CoE remains the pipeline for Indian cricket. And third is obviously Ajit Agarkar, because he does take a lot of flak, but the amount of honesty he has worked with,’ Gambhir said at the post match presentation.
“And last but not least, I have to thank Jay bhai, because not many people have actually called me when I went through the lowest moments in my tenure, whether it was after New Zealand, whether it was after South Africa, the only person who called me actually was Jay bhai. And I have to thank him for trusting me with this job, because I very well remember this, that when I was given this job, I had no experience of being the head coach of any franchise or any team, but trusting me with this job, so I have to thank these guys. And I think till these guys are there, I think Indian cricket is in very, very safe hands,” he explained.
“My accountability is not for people on Social Media. My accountability is to those 30 people in that changing room,” Gambhir said during the post-match press conference. “A coach is as good as his team. Players made me the coach I am,” Gambhir added.
“First of all, it’s the players who have made me win. And I’ve been saying for a long time that you are as good a coach or captain as your players are. So I think the credit needs to go to the players for the way, the professionalism and, most importantly, the bravery with which this tournament was played,” Gambhir said.
“As the captain said, in bilateral, we used to play in different ways, but in ICC tournaments, we play in different ways. That was one thing we wanted to change and I’m sure everyone has seen that. If you make more than 250 runs in the semi-final and final, it just shows the quality and bravery and courage with which this tournament was played,” he said.
“The most important thing in the T20 format is that we didn’t want to be afraid of losing. Because if you are afraid of losing, you never win. I always believe that ‘high risk, high reward’ is a very important thing in this format. I would have been happier if we had been out at 110-120. But our target is always to make 250 runs. We didn’t want to play 160-170 cricket. I think for too long we played 160-170 cricket,” Gambhir said.
