AHMEDABAD, India, March 9 (Reuters) - India's success has been powered by a deliberate move away from celebrating individual milestones, head coach Gautam Gambhir said on Sunday after the team retained their Twenty20 World Cup title.
India thrashed New Zealand by 96 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium to become the first team to win the tournament three times, sealing back-to-back titles after their 2024 triumph.
Gambhir, appointed shortly after they lifted the trophy in 2024, said he set the tone early in his tenure that personal landmarks would not determine selection, and that approach helped India commit fully to a dominant style under captain Suryakumar Yadav.
"My simple philosophy with Surya has always been that milestones don't matter. It's the trophies that matter," Gambhir told reporters.
"For too long in Indian cricket, we've spoken about milestones. And I hope that till I'm there, we're not going to talk about milestones."
He pointed to opener Sanju Samson's run of form as an example of the team's evolving mindset.
Samson, who was out of form last year and struggled for runs at the start of the World Cup, struck his third successive 80-plus score in the final and repeatedly lifted India in knock-out games.
"Sanju made 97 not out (against West Indies)... Imagine if he would have been playing for a milestone, probably we wouldn't have got 250," Gambhir said.
"Stop celebrating milestones. Celebrate trophies. That is going to be important because the bigger purpose of a team sport is to be winning trophies, not scoring individual goals."
He also praised Suryakumar's brand of leadership.
"Surya has made my life a lot easier in this format. I think he's a phenomenal leader. He very rightly mentioned that he doesn't want to be called a captain, he wants to be called a leader," Gambhir said.
"Because a leader is a far bigger figure in a dressing room than a captain."
With India now holding three T20 World Cup titles, Suryakumar said the side would definitely aim to chase gold at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, when they will also target another T20 World Cup crown.
(Reporting by Suramya Kaushik in AhmedabadEditing by Toby Davis)
