Now, in his first interview since being appointed as the Indian cricket team’s new head coach, Gambhir has spoken out about the concept of players being picked for certain formats.

“I’m a very strong believer in one thing, that if you’re good, you should be playing all the three formats. I’ve never been a big believer of injury management: you get injured, you go get recovered. As simple as it gets! When you’re playing international cricket and you’re good enough, you ask any of the top players, they want to play all the three formats. They don’t want to stay and they don’t want to be labelled as a red ball bowler or a white ball bowler. Injuries are part of sportsman’s life.

“And if you’re playing all the three formats, you get injured, you go back, get recovered, but you should be playing all the three formats. I am not a big believer to identify people like we’re going to keep him for Test matches or other formats. We’re going to manage his injury and workload and stuff. As professional cricketers, you’ve got a very small span when you’re playing for your country and you want to play as much as you can. And when you’re in very good form, go ahead and play all the three formats,” Gambhir told Star Sports in an interview.

Gambhir went on to elaborate about his philosophy: “There’s only one message: try and play with honesty. Obviously, results will follow. When I picked up the bat, I never thought of results or that I’m going to score these many runs. I’ve always believed that I have to be as honest as I can to my profession. Live on certain principles and values. Try and do the right things even if you think the whole world is against you. But your heart believes that you’re doing the right thing for the best interest of the team.

“I’ve been aggressive on the cricket field, I’ve had confrontations with people, just because it was all in the best interest of the team. Try and do that, because ultimately it’s the team that matters, not an individual. So, go out there and only think of one thing, that try and make your team win. It is not an individual sport where you think about your own self. It is a team sport, where it is the team that comes first. You’re probably the last one that comes in the entire line-up,” Gambhir added.