Welcoming the return of Gautam Gambhir in India’s Test set-up after a gap of two years, head coach Anil Kumble on Wednesday emphasised that the experienced opener has been performing well in the domestic cricket and, therefore, expressed his pleasure at seeing him back for remaining matches of the ongoing home series against New Zealand.
The 34-year-old was brought in the 15-man squad as a replacement for opener K.L Rahul, who was ruled out of the remaining two matches due to a hamstring injury.
“It is actually nice to have Gautam back. Unfortunately, Rahul got injured in the last Test match. And I think there is something happening with the openers. For some reason, they are getting injured-Vijay got injured in West Indies. Now Rahul, it is unfortunate. He was batting brilliantly. But having said that, Gautam has done really well in domestic cricket and he is a part of the 15. I don’t want to give away anything with regards to team combinations. All 15 are available for selection. So, it’s nice to have him back,” Kumble said ahead of the second Test to be held here in Kolkata from Friday.
Meanwhile, the former Indian skipper also defended his batsmen, who have been going through slow strike rate. Kumble said that batsmen need not have to worry about the strike rate as it is categorically for bowlers.
