India Too Good to Think Like That: Gambhir Rejects Pitch-Tailoring Talk After T20 World Cup Triumph

New Delhi: India head coach Gautam Gambhir has flatly rejected suggestions that the side benefits from doctored home pitches, insisting the champions’ surge to the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title was built on talent, not tailored strips.

“I don’t agree to that. Why would you tailor something? And honestly, India is too good a team to be even thinking about something like that,” Gambhir told ANI in his first extensive comments since the tournament ended.

The former opener, who took over the national role last year, said conspiracy theories about pitch manipulation surface only when India wins big at home. He pointed to the team’s explosive batting displays overseas as proof that surface assistance is irrelevant to their run-making.

“In the T20 format, whether you look in Australia or South Africa, we made 200 runs. If we make 200 runs in India, then the wickets get tailored. So I think some people want to create a controversy. Statements given for views and TRPs should not be acceptable,” he said.

Gambhir emphasised that during global events curators work under the ICC’s eye, not the BCCI’s. “Sometimes it is important to give players a lot of credit as well. It’s not like we made such big scores only in Indian conditions. In ICC tournaments, they control the wickets. It’s not the BCCI that controls them,” he noted.

He recalled the group-stage meeting with Pakistan in Colombo, where India rattled up roughly 180 on a turning deck while other sides laboured to 140. “We defeated Pakistan by a huge margin and no one questioned the pitch there,” he observed.

Gambhir added that modern T20 cricket is engineered for entertainment, making high totals the norm rather than the exception. “No one wants to come and watch a 120-run T20 game. Everyone wants to watch high-scoring matches. This is a worldwide phenomenon — in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and England as well,” he said.

The coach’s remarks are certain to fuel further debate, but his message was unmistakable: India’s success is a product of skill, not subterfuge.