India, Dec. 7 -- Gautam Gambhir used India's series-clinching win over South Africa to lay out, in no uncertain terms, what he believes modern one-day batting should look like - and why numbers on a scorecard matter far less than the roles behind them.

"I think in a one-day format, you should know the template that you want to play with. I've always believed that in white-ball cricket, batting orders are very overrated, except the opening combination," said Gambhir in the post-match press conference after India sealed a 2-1 ODI series win over the Proteas.

"In Test cricket, obviously, you've got to have a fixed batting order, but it is very, very overrated," he added.

For Gambhir, the emphasis is clearly on clarity of method rather tha...