Gautam Gambhir on Aswin's YouTube Channel
Indian team got cricketers like Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya or Arshdeep Singh from IPL. But Gautam Gambhir refused to rely entirely on the IPL for the selection of Indian team cricketers in the two formats. Appearing on Ravichandran Ashwin's YouTube channel, the KKR mentor talked about some other issues.

Don't Relay on IPL

Hopefully IPL is not a shortcut to playing in the Indian team. If you want to play in the Indian team, you have to play first class cricket first, then play well in 50 over cricket (Vijay Hazare Trophy). Only T20 teams can be selected from IPL. Not a 50 over or Test team by any means.

If domestic cricketers continue to discuss how to get a chance in the IPL, then they will shift their focus away from first-class cricket to the IPL. So IPL should be looked at for T20 World Cup or T20 team selection. One should look at Vijay Hazare for 50 overs and Ranji Trophy for Test teams.

One Rule Change in One Day Cricket

The new ball is the worst thing in ODI cricket. Think how many offspinners play in one day cricket! Nathan Lyon took 400 wickets. Ashwin has 400 wickets. None of them play in ODIs.

The only reason for that is that there is nothing in one-day cricket for off-spinners. Imagine a cricketer who has taken 400 wickets in Test cricket not being able to play in the ODI team. Because wickets cannot be taken by playing him. Reverse swing is also no more in white ball cricket. I want to see again a bowler reverse swinging at 150 kmph.

First meeting and message with Shahrukh

First met when he came to play for KKR in 2011. I still remember that day. He told me, 'Look, I don't want anyone to teach me this or that about acting. Likewise, you certainly don't want someone to teach you how to play cricket.' I said, 'Of course'. That is our only conversation. Seen many times after that. But there was not much talk about cricket.

"As I said earlier, SRK is the best owner I have ever seen. I am not saying this because I have returned to KKR. In my seven years of captaincy, I didn't talk about cricket with Shahrukh for even 70 seconds. He didn't ask me anything about cricket either. Can you imagine?"- Gambhir Said.

Why doesn't he smile?

Sometimes I hear people say, I don't smile. don't love anyone I'm in the mood. I have become old. The game is always playing in the head. The fact is, people don't come to the field to see me smile. People come to see me win. That is the real thing about this profession.

It is not a job to please everyone. I don't even try that. I don't want everyone to know what kind of person I am. The people I truly care about know what kind of person I am, what goes on in my head, whether I'm emotional or not, and I never think too much about things. I don't care what people say about me.

Similar approach to Chennai Super Kings

The 42-year-old claimed that, in his opinion, the strategies used by the Chennai and Kolkata teams to approach the game were very similar.

"It's not only the magnitude of the contest. When two good teams play against each other, it's going to be an exciting and hard-fought game. I always felt that CSK and KKR were very, very similar in the way they approached the game," Gambhir said on Ashwin's YouTube channel.