‘Everyone is judged on performance’
3 min readUpdated: Jun 5, 2026 02:15 PM IST India head coach Gautam Gambhir said on Friday that Rishabh Pant hasn’t been asked to abandon the aggressive manner in which he bats in Test cricket before stating that it is “important to play according to the situation”. Gambhir’s comments come on the eve of India’s one-off Test against Afghanistan, and among the headlines to emerge out of the squad announcement for the match was Pant losing vice-captaincy. “Responsibility is only to play for India. Everything else – captaincy, vice-captaincy and so on – are by-products,” Gambhir told reporters in New Chandigarh on Friday. “When you play for India, you don’t think of these things from the first day. You think about doing well for India. So going from one post to the other are all just by-products. Ultimately, everyone is judged on performance. Whether it be me or anyone in the support staff or any player. Ultimately, that is what international cricket is all about.” Gambhir said that Pant won’t be told to change the …



