I play for India, not ex-players: Gambhir

There is a feeling that there was not enough disappointment within your team after the loss in the T20 World Cup...

I don't know why people get that impression. Any World Cup loss is huge and it stings. Just because we don't show our emotions does not mean we are not affected by the loss.

But were you expecting this backlash?

We knew that the fans would be disappointed but some criticism was exaggerated. How can a team that is No. 1 in Tests and No. 2 in ODIs be admonished like this? How can one bad tournament take everything away?

But India failed to win even a single game in two consecutive Super 8s...

It is embarrassing but then this is the team that won the first World Cup after 1983 (2007), won a ODI tournament in Australia for the first time (CB Series in 2007) since the 1985 Benson & Hedges Cup, won an ODI series in New Zealand for the first time and a Test series after almost 40 years, beat England at home 5-0, came back from behind to win a Test series against South Africa. After this latest loss people said we could not handle the pace and bounce at Barbados. If that was the case, how do you think we won in Durban (2007, T20 World Cup), at Melbourne or in New Zealand?

India's T20 form has been mediocre...

Maybe, but then in this format you have to attack at all times. When you are chasing 190-odd like we did against Australia you can't be ducking or swaying to bouncers. You are chasing almost nine runs per over against the likes of Dirk Nannes and Shaun Tait.

One ex-captain said Gambhir is good only for pitches like Delhi or Kanpur....

I've heard worse. The same people once said that I was not good enough to play for India, now they at least believe I can play on certain tracks! You know what hurts me the most? The fact that we could not make the Tricolour proud in an international arena. Indian cricket is now ready to take the next big step. We have started winning abroad, now we need to win multi-nation tournaments. I play for the ordinary fan and not for ex-cricketers or the media.

I believe one Shaun Tait snorter left a crack on the bat but you are continuing to use it for some reason...

Yeah, it is there on the shoulder of my main match bat. I am using it because I want to keep reminding myself that I had an ordinary World Cup. Just a motivation thing, really.

Some people also thought MS Dhoni's captaincy was off-colour...

This is the same Dhoni who in the IPL final plotted Pollard's dismissal by having him caught by Hayden at an undorthodox midoff. The fact that Dhoni could think in that pressure situation was commendable and at that time he was called 'Captain Cool' and what not. How can he become redundant within a fortnight? He has done well as captain.

How much would you blame the IPL?

It is misleading to think IPL played any part. We got about 10 days after the finals, which is good enough to recharge. IPL is one of the best things to have happened to Indian cricket. I don't think IPL parties too had an impact on the defeat, though I don't party. I have heard there will be no parties next season. I'm fine with that.