Zaheer Khan Warns Gautam Gambhir: Your 'Flexible' Approach Could Cause Insecurity and Backfire

India have been experimenting with different opening combinations, as well as rotating batters at No.3 and other positions in both T20Is and ODIs against England. The only consistent opening pair has been Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma in the T20Is, but even that changed in the ODIs just before the Champions Trophy. Yashasvi Jaiswal was surprisingly chosen to partner Rohit Sharma instead of Shubman Gill in the first ODI, initially thought to be due to Virat Kohli's absence. However, Shreyas Iyer revealed that this decision was actually part of the team's strategy from the beginning, with Jaiswal's inclusion not solely based on Kohli's injury.

Does that mean Gambhir is planning to bat Gill at No.4 in the Champions Trophy? You surely won't demote Kohli in ODIs. How can you bench Shreyas Iyer? He averages nearly 50 in ODIs. Then, there was the move to promote Axar Patel. He batted at No.5 in both ODIS against England ahead of both KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya.

Zaheer said it's all right to be flexible but it has to be within the guidelines, otherwise it can create "insecurity" among the set players of the team.

"You've said that you've got to have the flexibility. Number one and two will be there but the others are going to be flexible. Within that flexibility, some rules also apply. There are certain protocols you have to follow. Certain communication needs to happen, which is gonna streamline things. Otherwise, you are creating insecurity, which, at some stage, will come back and hurt you. You don't want it to be the case. So you've got to be prepared to deal with that situation," Zaheer told Cricbuzz when he was asked to point out the difference between former coach Rahul Dravid's approach and Gambhir's.

‘Recency bias is very strong now’: Zaheer on difference between Dravuid and Gambhir

The former India left-arm who replaced Gambhir as Lucknow Super Giants mentor after the latter moved to Kolkata Knight Riders and then to Team India, said the coach, captain, selectors and the players need to be on the same page for this approach to function smoothly and there needs to be crystal clear communication among all of them.

"That's why I said recency bias is something very strong right now. The situation has become dynamic if you have to compare Rahul Dravid's approach and Gautam Gambhir's approach. You can say it's good, bad or ugly, or you can say how do we adapt. Each individual is a part of this system, be it the senior management or the think tank, be it the players, be it the selectors. They will have to gauge it, and the entire system needs to be streamlined for the wheel to turn properly," he added.

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