"Small contributions make a team...world cricket needs West Indies": Gambhir gives WI team motivational talk after India's series win

New Delhi [India], October 14 (ANI): Following India's series win over the West Indies at home, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir was invited to the opposition dressing room by their head coach, Daren Sammy, where the former Indian batter motivated the WI team and offered them words of wisdom.
While WI showcased immense fight in their second innings with centuries from John Campbell and Shai Hope and a 79-run 10th-wicket partnership, they were simply no match for the class of Indian bowlers, who did not let Windies take more than 120 runs of lead after follow-on. India won the series 2-0, bouncing back after a 0-3 whitewash loss at home against New Zealand last year and continued their rise in Tests under Shubman Gill and Gambhir.
In a video by BCCI, Sammy, a two-time ICC T20 World Cup-winning captain himself, invited Gambhir to the dressing room, where the Indian expressed his privilege at playing against the West Indies and thanked the side for touring India.
Gautam hailed WI for their "humility and humble nature", something he pointed out a lot of other teams, including his, could learn from.
Further encouraging WI to play a better brand of cricket, Gambhir said that WI has a purpose behind playing international cricket and "purpose is much important than love for the game".
"When I talk about international cricket, many teams that play it because they love the game, but a very few teams, like WI, have a purpose to play. Purpose is always more important than love. When you look at you guys, you can inspire the next generation of WI cricket. The way you played in the 2nd innings, it is the template that can carry WI cricket forward," said Gambhir.
The Indian head coach expressed his awe for the way the West Indian batting fought right from batter one to eleven. He highlighted several "small contributions" of the team, such as Anderson Phillip facing 98 balls for 20-odd runs in the first innings down the order and Jayden Seales facing 67 balls for his 32 during the second innings, the 10th wicket partnership with Justin Greaves. Gambhir said that "small contributions make a team, while big contributions make headlines".
"The way batters from numbers 1 to 11 fought was great. In a team sport, every effort deserves credit. It is easy to talk about fifers and hundreds, and guys with these things do not need the support of coaches and support staff. It is small contributions that make a team; big contributions only make headlines. If you want to be a truly effective team, it is crucial (to make small contributions). This is what we are trying to do in our dressing room, appreciating small contributions, like Jayden, playing those 70 balls, Anderson Phillip playing those 100 balls. In the first innings, those are massive, massive contributions," said Gambhir.
Further advising WI players, Gambhir said that the only opinions worth paying attention to should be those from those sitting inside the dressing room.
"You got such a great purpose to inspire the next generation. The amount of difficulties and challenges you face, with a smile on your face, working and playing for the nation, is for me, the most important thing for WI cricket," he added.
On a concluding note, Gambhir said that "WI does not need world cricket, but world cricket needs West Indies."
"A good, solid cricketing, Test-playing nation (what the world needs from West Indies). When you waer that jersey, remember that you got an opportunity to do something special, which not a lot of players get while playing T20s," he concluded.
Coming to the match, India won the toss and opted to bat first. After fall of KL Rahul (38 in 54 balls, with five fours and a six), Yashasvi Jaiswal stitched a 193-run stand with Sai Sudharsan (87 in 165 balls, 12 fours) and a 74-run stand with skipper Shubman Gill before being run-out for 258-ball 175, with 22 fours. Gill continued his golden run in Tests, bringing his fifth ton of the year (129* in 196 balls, with 16 fours and two sixes) and had partnerships with Nitish Kumar Reddy (43 in 54 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) and Dhruv Jurel (44* in 79 balls, with five fours) taking India to 518/5 declared.
Jomel Warrican (3/98) was the pick of the bowlers for WI.
In their first innings, WI was skittled out for 248 runs as top-order knocks from Tagenarine Chanderpaul (34 in 67 balls, with four boundaries and a six), Alick Athaneze (41 in 84 balls, with five fours and a six) and Shai Hope (36 in 57 balls, with five fours) were barely starts which could not be the milestones.
Kuldeep Yadav (5/82) and Ravindra Jadeja (3/46) troubled WI with their spin on a slow track.
Forced to follow on, WI was once again down at 35/2, but a 177-run stand between John Campbell (115 in 199 balls, with 12 fours and three sixes) and Hope (103 in 214 balls with 12 fours and two sixes) helped WI fight back well. A fine 40 in 72 balls from skipper Roston Chase and a remarkable 10th wicket stand of 79 runs between Justin Greaves (50 in 85 balls, with three fours) and Jayden Seales (32 in 67 balls, with a four and six) frustrated India, as WI was bundled out for 390 and took a 120-run lead. Kuldeep and Bumrah, with their three wickets, topped the wicket charts.
In the run-chase of 121, India lost Yashasvi early for 8, while KL and Sai Sudharsan (39 in 76 balls, with five fours) had a 79-run stand. Skipper Gill was also dismissed cheaply, but KL's unbeaten 58* in 108 balls, with six fours and two sixes. anchored the innings and took India home with seven wickets in hand.
Kuldeep's eight wickets earned him the 'Player of the Match' award, while for Jadeja, his century in Ahmedabad and total of eight wickets in the series gave him his third 'Player of the Series' trophy as India won the series 2-0. (ANI)