Ashwin agrees with Gambhir’s “aggressive” approach as Abhishek Shamra & Tilak Varma blow England away

When Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retired last year after the India cricket team won the 2024 T20 World Cup, some thought the future wouldn’t be as bright. But less than 12 months later, Team India has continued to be the best T20I team in the world. A big reason for the success has been the approach adopted by captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir.

Both assumed their respective roles in July 2024 and have lost just 2 of the 13 T20I matches Team India has played since. Unlike in the past, when the Men in Blue won matches by starting cautiously while batting first or chasing methodically with Rohit Sharma and Kohli being present, the current outfit simply outbats the opposition.

The young guns have aggression as their default mode, and it shows. Be it Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma in South Africa or Abhishek Sharma against England. Ravichandran Ashwin, who recently retired, agrees with this approach of the current Indian team under Gambhir.

“I was reading that Gambhir wants the team to score 240-260 in every game. I am on board with this approach. For Gambhir Gambit, I have one suggestion: Keep playing this way but don’t play like England, please!” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

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Method to madness

The off-spinner understands that such a brand of cricket can go wrong quickly, but he thinks Team India has found the balance. Tilak Varma should do this, as he chased down 166 runs all by himself in an innings where his strike rate was just 130.91. He batted with the tail, channelling his inner Kohli. This was unlike his brutal assault against South Africa. This shows it’s not slogging, but there is a method to madness.

The same happened with Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya batted. Dube targeted spin and Pandya pace. Knowing that strength and taking risks against favourable matches, instead of just blind slogging.

“Yesterday (on February 2), you could see them smiling despite their batters getting out to give an impression that they are cool with this approach. There’s a fine line between playing aggressive cricket and reckless cricket. India are playing aggressive cricket these days,” he added.