"Not a Believer of Injury Management" - India Head Coach Gautam Gambhir on His Approach to Team Selection

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India's newly appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir has revealed his criteria for players selection won't be based on a particular format as he feels players who are "good enough" should play all three formats.

Earlier this week, Gambhir was named the successor to Rahul Dravid as the new head coach, starting a new era in Indian cricket with several new faces also set to get an opportunity in the team following three stalwarts' retirement from the T20I format.

Apart from Dravid's departure, veterans Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja announced their retirements from the T20I format, leaving three spots vacant in the team. The trio, however, will continue playing in ODIs and Tests.

With an action-packed schedule set for the Indian team and multiple speculations about the pool of players who could play under the new regime, Gambhir has made his process plain and simple.

Over the last few years, several players have been rested from certain formats as part of a injury management process with the senior players opting to sit out of a few tournaments. However, things will be different under the new coach.

The new Indian head coach, who is not a strong believer in injury management, has made his selection process clear, saying if good enough one should play all three formats.

"I'm a very strong believer in one thing, that if you're good, you should be playing all the three formats. I've never been a big believer in injury management, you get injured, you go get recovered. As simple as it gets," Gambhir told Star Sports.

"When you're playing international cricket and you're good enough, you ask any of the top players, if they want to play all the three formats. They don't want to stay, and they don't want to be labelled as red-ball bowlers or white-ball bowlers. Injuries are part of sportsman's life."

Gambhir also said that he is not a big believer in selecting players for a particular format, adding anyone playing for the country should grab all the opportunities they get and play in all three formats.

"If you're playing all the three formats, you get injured, you go back, get recovered, but you should be playing all the three formats. I am not a big believer in identifying people that, we're going to keep him for test matches or other formats," he added.

"We're going to manage his injury and workload and stuff. Professional cricketers, you've got a very small span when you're playing for your country, and you want to play as much as you can. And when you're in very good form, go ahead and play all the three formats."