Gautam Gambhir is like a strict head master, who is very clear about how he wants to run the show.

As the head coach of Team India, Gambhir has faced both success and failure. While he has no problem in celebrating wins, the former India opener, in an interview to bcci.tv, made it clear that he doesn’t believe in celebrating “commendable” performances that come in a losing cause.

“...I’ve always been a believer that it’s not about the individual performances. I can be very happy with the individual performances, and I will always remain happy with individual performances. But... can never celebrate a series loss as a coach,” he said.

Gambhir was referring to India’s recent ODI series loss in Australia. The ODI series Down Under saw the return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to competitive cricket after a long time. Despite the loss, Rohit was adjudged the Player of the Series for getting a hundred and a fifty in the three-match contest. Kohli scored a 74 in the third game after consecutive ducks in the first two. Gambhir, while sharing his views, did not take names.

“As a player I can appreciate individuals, but as a coach I think it is my moral responsibility that we as a nation and we as individuals should never, never celebrate a series loss,” Gambhir reiterated.

India, however, went on to beat the Aussies in the five-match T20I series that followed the ODIs.”Ultimately, we are representing the country, yes the T20I series was different, we won the series, a lot of positives, but a lot of learning as well,” he said.

The T20 World Cup is scheduled early next year, and the coach feels that his team are still not in ideal shape in terms of fitness.

“It has been a very transparent dressing room, it has been a very honest dressing room and that is how we want this dressing room to be. From the fitness point of view, I think we still aren’t where we want to be come the T20 World Cup. And that is exactly the conversation that we’ve had with the boys as well. We want to be absolutely sharp. We want to be fit. We want to move quicker.

“The fitter we are, the more mentally strong we are. Because come the pressure games, come the pressure situation, the more physically strong you are, the more mentally strong you are. We still have three months to be where we want to be,” Gambhir explained.

The T20 World Cup is scheduled to be held in India and Sri Lanka in February-March next year.