Gutsy and gritty are the terms used to describe Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir was once a perennial member of the Indian team both for one day and test matches between 2007 and 2011. Now, Gambhir is again making a comeback to the Indian test squad after two years.

An unfortunate injury to KL Rahul, made way for Gambhir to be recalled into the team. Team management had another left hander in Shikhar Dhawan waiting in the wings as an option. But still they went ahead and gave Gautam Gambhir another chance to prove his worth.

Good form in domestic cricket

The 34 year left hander had a good outing in the recently concluded Duleep trophy. He aggregated 356 runs in the competition from five innings at 71.20 strike rate. He was dismissed only once without getting to a half-century. In the process he also led India Blue to victory in the 2016 Duleep Trophy final.

The 34 year old, played his last Test in August 2014, on India’s tour to England. He aggregated 25 runs on that tour, from four innings. India lost the five-match series 3-1. So his return to the Test side and that too in the Kolkata test seems tactical.

Gambhir’s experience invaluable

Being the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier Leauge, Gambhir has the best understanding of the Eden Gardens wicket among all the players in the squad. This becomes one of the reasons of him making a comeback in this particular test match.

Another can be the need of someone who is experienced up at the top to play well. Gambhir is a perfect fill with his current form. Being left hander gives the selectors another reason to support his call up.

“Gambhir is definitely under consideration because he has been doing extremely well, and even the team management feels that with 12-13 Test matches coming up there needs to be some experience [at the top],” said a BCCI official about Gambhir’s return to the Test team.

Overall, he has 4046 runs in 56 Tests at 42.58, with nine centuries. Apart from Gambhir, Haryana off spinner Jayant Yadav has been called up as a replacement for Ishant Sharma who is yet to recover from Chikungunia, which kept him out of the first Test at Kanpur. 

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