‘If you succeed in Aus, you have it in you’

Gambhir has come a long way since his induction into Team India and he has realised his responsibilities.

Gautam Gambhir has come a long way since his induction into Team India and he realises his responsibilities, especially with the pivotal No 3 position. And, after having fought long for a place as opener, the Delhi batsman now wants to own the one-drop slot permanently with a classy century against Sri Lanka on Tuesday. Excerpts:

On his 3rd ODI ton: To get to a hundred is always special, especially overseas and particularly in Australia. To do it in this kind of a situation, when the team needs you to deliver, makes it more enjoyable. When you come to a place like Australia and

to the conditions you aren’t used to, there are always question marks over your technique.

Once you succeed here, you know you have it in you to handle situations. This knock has given me a lot of confidence.

Story continues below this ad

On the No. 3 slot: I am always comfortable batting at No 3. If an early wicket falls, you have the time to anchor the innings, and if we are off to a good start, I can come in and play my natural attacking game. I am capable of playing both roles, I am really enjoying the position. It’s time for me to take up the responsibility.

On his innings today: I had the time to play myself in and pace my innings. The gameplan was to have wickets in hand till the 40th over. We had lost four for 80-odd, and it was important for me and Dhoni to have a partnership. We decided that we would take whatever was the score at the end of 40 overs, but with enough wickets in hand. The grounds here are very big, and you need to run hard to convert ones into twos and so on.

Dhoni and I discussed it a lot. We were aware that if we could keep rotating the strike, we could have a decent score on the board.

If he felt he would miss out on a century: It (century) was never on my mind. What matters to me is that the team must win. There is no joy if you make a hundred and the team loses. Contributing to the team’s win gives you more happiness.

Story continues below this ad

I was telling Dhoni that whoever gets the strike will just go after the bowling, never mind my century. If it has to happen, it will happen. Luckily, it happened and I did get to my hundred.