New Delhi [India], September 17 : India head coach Gautam Gambhir backed Nitish Kumar Reddy's development as a seam-bowling all-rounder and said Hardik Pandya will need game time before returning to international cricket after India completed a 3-0 T20I series whitewash against Afghanistan on Thursday.
India completed a 3-0 T20I series sweep over Afghanistan with a commanding 127-run win in the third and final match in New Delhi.
Abhishek Sharma smashed a record-breaking 108 off 34 balls as India posted 221/7 before Ravi Bishnoi and Reddy took three wickets each to bowl Afghanistan out for 94. The defeat was Afghanistan's heaviest in T20Is and their lowest total against India in the format.
During the post-match press conference, Gambhir said Nitish's withdrawal from the T20 format will allow him to get more game time against the West Indies, stressing the importance of developing seam-bowling all-rounders ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup and India's tour of South Africa.
Reddy, meanwhile, was originally included in the 15-member Asian Games cricket squad but has been withdrawn and will instead feature in India’s ODI series against the West Indies.
"From Nitish's point of view, it's actually a great thing that he's been withdrawn from the T20 format, and he'll get game time against the West Indies as well. We know how important a seam-bowling all-rounder will probably be in a year and when we go to South Africa. And once Hardik comes back, obviously it's going to be good," Gambhir said during the post-match press conference.
He added that India could potentially play both Nitish and Hardik in the same XI but said Pandya cannot currently bowl 10 overs and has not played enough cricket since the IPL.
"Sometimes we could even go on to play both of them in the playing 11. But again, Hardik at the moment cannot bowl 10 overs, and he hasn't played a lot of cricket since the IPL, so we don't want to push him into international cricket because international cricket can be extremely tough on your body as well. So if he plays those India A series, obviously he'll get some game time as well," Gambhir added.
Gambhir said the message to Hardik was clear: that playing the India A series and getting sufficient game time could pave the way for his return to the T20 and ODI squads.
"And that was the clear message to him that if he can play that India A series, and then if everything goes well, he can come back and be part of the T20s and the one-day squad as well, and in the meantime, Nitish will get more game time as well because he hasn't played enough cricket since the IPL either," the Indian head coach said.
He also pointed to Nitish's bowling development and said having multiple seam-bowling all-rounders would benefit the team.
"I think it's good that we got Nitish now from the Asian Games so that now he can, and you could see the more he bowls, the better he becomes, and we have when you can develop a couple of seam-bowling all-rounders, it will always be handy," Gambhir added.
On Abhishek Sharma's record-breaking century in the third T20I, Gambhir said the focus within the team was on impact rather than individual milestones.
"I can sit here and keep talking about his 100, but it's just the impact. The only thing we talk about in that dressing room is how much impact we create with the bat and how much impact we can create with the ball. And that has been our ideology, that has been our philosophy for the last two years," Gambhir said.
Abhishek smashed 108 off 34 balls as India posted 221/7 before bowling Afghanistan out for 94 to complete a 127-run win and a 3-0 series sweep.
Gambhir highlighted India's 100 runs in the powerplay as a major positive, noting it was the first time during his coaching tenure that the team had achieved the feat.
"T20 cricket is not about runs or wickets; it's about how much impact you can create, and for both Sanju and Abhishek, I think you can easily sit here and say one got a 50 and the other one got a 100, but for me I think the biggest positive was we got a 100 in the powerplay that we have never done in my coaching tenure," the Indian head coach added.
Gambhir said the team would continue to push its attacking approach and set even higher targets.
"I think that was a very clear message that if you're going hard, just keep going hard. That is what the message is, and that is exactly the message going to be in future as well, that we still haven't reached 300. So that's probably the next target because, with the kind of talent, we should be doing some incredible things. So we still have a lot to achieve," Gambhir concluded.