New Delhi: Determined to fight his way back into the national side, Gautam Gambhir on Wednesday said he would be happy grinding it out in the domestic circuit for long rather than using the Indian Premier League as a "platform" to make a "personal comeback".
Once considered as Indian batting's mainstay, Gambhir now finds himself in cricketing wilderness owing to his indifferent form, but the out-of-favour opener has not lost hopes of returning to international cricket and would be happily plying his trade in the Deodhar Trophy for North Zone and Kolkata Knights Riders in the IPL.
"I will never use the IPL (as a platform). I will use the IPL as a platform to do well for my side KKR. What all matters to me is good showing for KKR. I don't play the IPL for my personal comebacks. I play IPL for my team and do well for them. Performing for KKR is all that is in back of my mind," Gambhir told PTI.
"It's (domestic cricket) the stepping stone for making it to the Indian team. Till the time love for the game is there, I don't mind playing at any platform, be it domestic, IPL or the international cricket. I love the game and that's what really matters to me," Gambhir said on the sidelines of a Red Bull event, Wings For Life, to spread the message of World run that aims to raise funds for spinal cord research, in the capital.
It's been more than a year since Gambhir last took guard in international game against England at Dharamsala in January 2013. Talking about Test cricket and T20s, it's been around 15 months for the southpaw.
The 31-year-old scored 578 runs in the Ranji Trophy this season with a top score of 153 against Haryana but failed to make the cut for the Test squad to South Africa.
He got unlucky for the second time too, missing out on a Test spot for the New Zealand tour despite other opener Shikhar Dhawan's poor outing with the bat in South Africa.
Gambhir again failed to win the hearts of national selectors when they ignored him for India's limited-overs campaign in the Asia Cup, where the team even failed to qualify for the final.
With India touring England in June followed by the 50-over World Cup in Australia-New Zealand, Gambhir still has opportunities to knock on the doors of national selectors.
