Gautam Gambhir, in Guwahati, on Saturday

Guwahati: Gautam Gambhir, who will be captaining Team India for the first time, in the absence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, relishes the challenge of leading the side.

Speaking at a media conference on the eve of the first one-day International, against New Zealand, Gambhir also said that the focus will be on winning the series and not necessarily on giving everyone a chance in the absence of the seniors.

The following are excerpts

The challenge of leading the side

It’s a great challenge. It’s a dream… I am really excited and hopefully I will live up to the expectations. It’s a responsibility that has been given to the team (to perform without the seniors).

On the absence of seniors

It’s a great opportunity for the players. Most of them have played international cricket. They are experienced… We have Ashish (Nehra) and Munaf (Patel), who have enough experience and will be looking after the bowling. In fact, its is a great opportunity for youngsters and hope they will deliver.

If everyone would be given a chance in the series

The focus, right now, is to win the game, to win the series rather than thinking about giving an opportunity to all the players. We are just about to begin the series and it’s too early to say that you need to give opportunity to all the players. It’s an international series and you are playing for your country… Rather than thinking of giving opportunity to all, we should first think of winning the series and then take it from there.

On Yuvraj Singh…

India never had such a match-winner… The amount of matches he has won for the team is incredible. Doubting his abilities is not the right thing to do. He already has a half-century to his name in the last one-dayer he played and had done decently in Sri Lanka as well. It’s just about playing one big innings and then he will be back to his best.

Suresh Raina’s recent poor form

He finishes game for us. You can’t compare Test cricket with one-day cricket… He has done brilliantly in the one-dayers. He has played a lot of cricket… There will be ups and downs in everybody’s career. We need to give them confidence and have patience. See how they (Yuvraj and Raina) have done over one-and-a-half years instead of focusing on just a few matches.

On Wriddhiman Saha’s ODI debut

He has done well for Bengal. It is a great opportunity for him… We know he is a good wicket-keeper and now he is also among the runs. Hope he carries his domestic form into International cricket.

The Guwahati wicket

Guwahati is always a good wicket, which might do a bit in the morning… It looks a good one-day wicket. I would like to put up as much as possible, but 270-280 seems a good total because it starts spinning in the second half.