Time running out for out-of-form Gautam Gambhir

Struggling to make any serious contributions, it seems, time for Indian opener Gautam Gambhir is running out.

Gambhir has been struggling to find form in all three versions of the game and would like to make a statement in the final ODI in Dharamsala on Sunday.

Just like the national selection committee showed the door to Virender Sehwag in the 50-over version, the final One-dayer against England here could be the last chance for the left-hander to get back to form.

With only 132 runs from his last seven ODIs, apart from three years without a century in Tests and a string of low scores in T20s, Gambhir is now surely living on borrowed time.

With one half-century and an average of less than 20, which includes the last series against Pakistan, and the current one against England, Gambhir would like to spend some time out there in the middle to get out of his woeful run.

"The only problem at this point of time is not being able to convert the starts into big knocks. If you look at the manner he is batting, I don't find any technical glitch in his batting," his childhood coach Sanjay Bhardwaj said.

But what about the innumerable number of times that he has been dragging the ball onto the stumps, Bhardwaj said it was more due to the firm bottom hand grip.

"I have had a discussion with Gautam on this issue and whatever little I have watched after that, he has tried to sort that out. He is an attacking player and the dab towards third-man has been bread and butter shot for him and I can't tell him to change his natural game.

"It's still not clear whether Gambhir will be picked for the Test series against Australia as the selectors may not be in a mood to pick two out of form seniors and Virender Sehwag's track record in longer version is better than that of Gambhir.

"He might still get a chance to play for Rest of India in the Irani Trophy from February 6-10 and then get some match practice if he decides to play in the zonal leg of the Vijay Hazare Trophy like Sehwag," an important support staff member of the Delhi team said.