The defeat left India trailing 2-0 in the five-match series after the opening match was washed out, with England also inching closer to sealing the series with two games remaining.
Backing his young squad despite the heavy loss on Tuesday, Gambhir pointed to the overhaul that has taken place since India's T20 World Cup triumph. "If you see, there have been changes to this T20 team. When you go to reset your T20 side, then many times you get such performances. If you see the playing XI of the World Cup final and the one today, there are a lot of changes. Whether you take the captain, the opening batters... Hardik Pandya is not there, Jasprit Bumrah is not there. So when you go to reset again, it takes a little time,” the head coach told reporters during the post-match press conference.
India were bundled out for 76 while chasing 202, but Gambhir refused to read too much into a solitary poor outing.
"I think we just haven't played well. You don't become a bad team after four games. Sometimes, if the opposition plays better than you... sometimes you don't assess the conditions better, you don't read the conditions better. Reading the game is equally important as well. We haven't done that since Ireland,” he added.
The former India stalwart said the inexperience in the squad also needed to be factored into the assessment.
"A 15-year-old player is opening the batting, you have Prince Yadav who just played his second T20I. There's Harshit Rana who is just coming back from injury. It's very easy to say things but ultimately we see the results and no doubt, results are important in international cricket. But being practical is also very important. Many times you give time to the players to grow, to develop. But especially against such a team - England are a high-quality side - if you push players into such a deep sea, give them a little time and they will eventually develop. Because after a reset, things take time to get back to normal,” he expressed.
Gambhir also felt India failed to adapt to the conditions, particularly in assessing the breeze and the contrasting boundary dimensions, while urging the middle order to shoulder greater responsibility.
"Because sometimes, it's a small thing, but Breeze can play a huge part as well. Sometimes, one side, where the dimensions are much bigger than the other side, that is important as well. So these small, small things in a T20 game can make a huge difference. And sometimes what happens is when everyone in the batting line-up starts playing high risk, high reward, sometimes these things can happen. So probably, in the middle-order, the experienced guys who've played enough international cricket need to adapt and probably play according to the situation as well,” he stated.
Drawing parallels with India's successful T20 World Cup campaign, Gambhir said the current batting group lacked the stabilising role played by the middle order on that occasion.
"We did that during the World Cup as well. Our top three was firing and we wanted to get that high risk, high reward, but then we had 4 or 5 who were still able to build the innings and probably anchor it as well. That is something that we've lacked today and that's why we got the result. Again, I think it boils down to probably reading the game situation. I think that is something that we've lacked today,” he mentioned.
While acknowledging India's struggles against pace, Gambhir maintained that the team's attacking approach would remain intact, saying, "I don't know what England is going to try and do, but we have got to keep getting better at playing pace. And more importantly, I thought that today was probably one of the off days, because if you see the last two T20Is, we have got 190 on the board in both. So sometimes when you play a high-risk kind of game, these things can happen."
Responding to questions over Sanju Samson's absence, Gambhir said selection would continue to be based on form and team requirements.
"As far as clarity is concerned, we are absolutely clear that Sanju, what he has done for India, during the World Cup has been phenomenal. And sometimes you just have to look at the form as well of a certain player. And there is no such thing that there is any hard and fast rule that he cannot make a comeback in this series,” Gambhir noted.
He reiterated that performances would remain the sole criterion for selection. "And more importantly, ultimately the international cricket is about results. So whatever we feel is the best combination to give us the results, we play that combination, we play that playing XI. And that is what I have always been a big believer that everyone needs to earn their place."
