Flexible approach can create insecurity: Zaheer Khan warns India coach Gautam Gambhir ahead of Champions Trophy

Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir. (AFP Photo)

Former India cricketer and Gautam Gambhir 2011 World Cup winning teammate Zaheer Khan feels that India coach's white-ball approach will sooner or later might hurt the team back in some way or another. Men in Blue have used different batters in their lineup at different positions too many times recently. Only the opening combination of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma was fixed, that too in the T20Is setup.

Right before the Champions Trophy, Yashasvi Jaiswal opened the batting alongside Rohit Sharma in the first ODI against England, replacing Shubman Gill, many assumed it was due to Virat Kohli's absence. However, Shreyas Iyer, one of India's most consistent batters in this format, revealed to the broadcasters that Jaiswal opening was always part of the plan, and he himself played only because of Kohli's injury.

Does this mean Gambhir is considering batting Gill at No. 4 in the Champions Trophy? India certainly wouldn't push Kohli down the order in ODIs. What about Shreyas Iyer? He averages nearly 50 in the format, will benching him will be the right call? After that we also have the latest decision to put Axar Patel ahead of KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya in the lineup to think about.

Zaheer Khan has expressed it is good to be flexible but it might bite back to the team as it could create "insecurity" among the set of players.

"You've said that you've got to have the flexibility. Number one and two will be there but the others are going to be flexible. Within that flexibility, some rules also apply. There are certain protocols you have to follow. Certain communication needs to happen, which is gonna streamline things. Otherwise, you are creating insecurity, which, at some stage, will come back and hurt you. You don't want it to be the case. So you've got to be prepared to deal with that situation," Zaheer told Cricbuzz.

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"That's why I said recency bias is something very strong right now. The situation has become dynamic if you have to compare Rahul Dravid's approach and Gautam Gambhir's approach. You can say it's good, bad or ugly, or you can say how do we adapt. Each individual is a part of this system, be it the senior management or the think tank, be it the players, be it the selectors. They will have to gauge it, and the entire system needs to be streamlined for the wheel to turn properly," he added.