Score runs to help your team win, not for personal records: Gautam Gambhir on Virat Kohli

Former India batter Gautam Gambhir believes that players should score runs to help their team win and not for racking up personal milestones. The veteran, who retired from all forms of cricket back in December 2018, said that batters should try and play in a matter that takes the pressure off the other players in the team.

Gambhir responded to the question on how should cricketers like Virat Kohli approach their game in the ongoing edition of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. 

“The mindset of scoring runs, and effective ones, with the help of which your team wins. No point in scoring runs that just go in your records or fifties or hundreds. Even if you make 40 or even 20, make it at such a rate that it helps your team post 170-180. And if you’re chasing, make sure that it takes the pressure off your middle order,” Gambhir was quoted as saying.

“When you go in such tournaments, you have to keep your personal records at home. Individual records don’t matter in such tournaments. Even if you score 200 runs in the tournament and your team wins, that will be your legacy. But if you score 500 runs and the team gets knocked out, then those runs are of no use,” he added. 

India haven't won an ICC trophy since the Champions Trophy triumph in England way back in 2013. The Men in Blue played in the final of the same tournament in 2017 followed by the final of the 2019-21 World Test Championship. However, they ended on the losing side on both occasions, as they did in the semi-finals of the previous two ODI World Cups in 2015 and 2019 respectively.

India are now set to take part in the T20 World Cup, wherein they will lock horns with Babar Azam's Pakistan in their opener at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, October 23

Last year, India failed to advance to the semis of the T20 World Cup in Oman and the UAE after defeats to Pakistan and New Zealand in the Super 12s round.