I’ve to thank MS for the form I am in right now

He loves using, “to be honest” in each of his sentences. And, honestly, Gambhir hasn’t really got the limelight he deserves, even in Australia, with all the talk about things other than cricket. Gambhir smiles when you ask him that, because that’s been the case for him always. A man of few words, he engages in a free-wheeling chat with The Indian Express.

Excerpts:

Your best phase in career has been with Dhoni as skipper. Is this a coincidence or is there a reason behind it?

I really want to thank MS from the bottom of my heart for all my success and the support he’s given me. I have never felt as secure under any skipper as I have on the last couple of tours under his captaincy, starting with the T20 World Cup. That trip was the turning point of my career and I want to tell Dhoni that I will try my best so that I don’t ever let him down. That’s the time when you start getting runs, when you don’t have to think about your place in the side.

You are regarded as a great team man. Given how things happen in Indian cricket, have you always put team before self?

I’ve never played for myself. I just want all my knocks to be of utility in the team’s victory — whether I hit a century or not. I think if you can’t give 100 per cent to your team and your country, then you don’t deserve to be in the national side. There were times when I was told to think about myself, to get runs and cement a place in the team first, but I never thought about it that way. Even if it cost me two years, I could not have justified it to my conscience. I You need to tell yourself, ‘Yes, you have your priorities right’.

Have you ever felt you don’t get the recognition you deserve, compared to some other team mates?

I would be lying if I say no. (Smiles) You do feel bad but you have to take it in your stride and move on. I don’t show my emotions openly like others but I try and find my happiness somewhere else. When I think about it, perhaps one of the reasons could be that I have had a stop-start career. It definitely hurts when you don’t get the kind of appreciation that others get but I look at it as an incentive to do better. No two human beings can be the same, and I am like this. Perhaps I am too reserved, and that might not make me glamorous enough to get recognised. Sometimes I do wonder about it.

Have you made a deliberate attempt to temper your batting in Australia? You seem to have shunned your flashiness and are playing more sedate knocks.

Whenever I have walked in, it has been after an early wicket and my job has been to consolidate and anchor the team. We know that 230-240 is a safe score and thankfully I have been able to play big innings to help the team get there. I started feeling that I didn’t need to rush into my shots, and even if I had a slow start I could accelerate towards the end.

What does the success in Australia tell you about yourself?

This is one place where you want to do well because there are doubts about your technique and temperament until you succeed here. Until you perform on bouncy tracks, there are always question marks about you as a player. I’m happy to have answered all those questions very well and that gives me great satisfaction. I’ve started believing in myself now more than ever before.

Looking back, in the last one you have been through your lowest ebb and your brightest patch…

I’m more than happy with whatever I have achieved in the last one year. I am still depressed at missing a berth in the World Cup squad. Now that I am scoring runs, I just want to keep going and achieve whatever goals I wanted to all these years. I just want to get back all that I’ve lost in the last couple of years. I want to make the most of my form.