I am not a selector: Gautam Gambhir on Shreyas Iyer

On a sweltering hot day at the St Stephen's College Ground in Delhi, India head coach Gautam Gambhir was asked about the decision to drop Shreyas Iyer for the tour of England. His quick response, "I am not a selector."

He then moved to address a question not related to the national selection and Indian cricket team -- the one about the final being dedicated to armed forces and the defence chief being invited.

"It is an unbelievable decision. Normally, we used to criticise the BCCI for a lot of things. But this is something where the BCCI has taken a great initiative from the point of view that the entire nation has to salute the armed forces for what they do unconditionally. Lot of credit to BCCI," said Gambhir who spoke to media briefly after inaugurating the 50th edition of the Goswami Ganesh Dutt Memorial Cricket Tournament, which is being played in coloured clothing and white ball to mark the occasion.

The opening ceremony where members of the teams competing on inaugural day were introduced to Gambhir and the trophy was unveiled, was attended by former BCCI President CK Khanna, his wife and ex-DDCA Vice-President Shashi Khanna, current DDCA Vice-President Shikha Kumar and ex-DDCA Treasurer Pawan Gulati.

Gambhir batted also, facing a couple of balls, to throw open the tournament.

Yugal Saini, who made a 55 off 36 balls to help Mount Cricket Club beat Friends Club in the inaugural match said, "We get motivation when such a big player-coach comes among us. But it is just that I have to follow the process like in every match."

His teammate Saksham Gehlot, who picked 3/21 in 3.5 overs also chimed in.

"When Gambhir sir came, the atmosphere was very good for everyone. He is an India coach. He has an aura about him. There was massive atmosphere on the ground. You learn a lot whether you speak to him or not. I also learnt that he had played tournaments like these to play for India. So youngsters and everyone who play tournaments like these, they get a lot of motivation that our name will get popular in Delhi circle and people will recognise us."

Tags : Gautam Gambhir, BCCI, CK Khanna, GG Dutt Memorial, Delhi cricket