Former India batter Gautam Gambhir somehow always makes sure to grab the headlines with his opinions, courtesy of his at-your-face demeanor and unapologetic views on any issue. However, during a recent interaction with motivational speaker Dr. Vivek Bindra on his chat show named Bada Bharat Show, Gambhir went a step further and surprised everyone by remarking that “being a cricketer” has been his biggest regret.
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Coincidentally, the last time when he had publicly shared his biggest regret was around the same sport. In the midst of a good run of batting form, the left-handed batter had to miss a Test match against Australia 15 years ago.
Gautam Gambhir Had Termed Missing A Test Against Australia As Biggest Remorse
Although not renowned for smacking the ball out of the ground for towering sixes, Gambhir always had an aggressive side to his personality as a batter during his playing days. It was the third Test match of Australia’s tour of India in 2008 in Delhi, when the southpaw had indulged in a brawl with former Aussie all-rounder Shane Watson.
In fact, not too long ago, the current Member of Parliament had an ugly verbal interaction with the opposition players as well despite being present only in the capacity of a team mentor.
However, the one mentioned above involving Watson had taken place during the post-lunch session on Day 1. After the duo had a go at each other verbally for some time, the argument took an ugly turn during the 51st over when Gambhir hit Watson using his elbow on his way back to the striker’s end while taking the second run.
As a result, match referee Chris Broad had handed him a Test match ban after the opener had pleaded guilty to a Level 2 offence (inappropriate and deliberate physical contact) of the ICC Code of Conduct. The Delhi batter did appeal the ban imposed on him a day later, but to no avail.
A few days after consequently missing the final Test of the series in Nagpur, Gambhir had termed missing the match as his biggest regret thus far in his international career.
“It’s important as a professional cricketer not to let down the side, especially when you are in such great form. I regret missing the fourth Test and I needed to be more sensible,” Gambhir had remarked to PTI.
During an interaction with NDTV the very same day, Gambhir had rued the fact that he couldn’t keep his cool but also exclaimed that the visitors had gone overboard on that particular occasion after having continuously provoked him throughout the series.
“It was my reaction to what they did. They tried to provoke me throughout the series and [on that occasion], they just went over the board. This is indeed the biggest regret so far. I always wanted to contribute to the team and be part of the team that beat Australia. Having contributed so much in the series, I really wanted to play the last Test and never wanted to watch it from outside.”
The regret was quite understandable for Gambhir as he had went on to smash a maiden Test double century during the very innings, and was in some sound form during the previous matches of the series as well. In fact, he had emerged as the highest run-scorer during the four-match series with 463 runs across six innings at an average of 77.16.
Also, getting ruled out of the Nagpur Test had meant that he had to also miss out on the Player of the series award, which was ultimately bagged by pacer Ishant Sharma for scalping 15 wickets across seven innings.
Gautam Gambhir Had Labeled ‘Being A Cricketer’ As Biggest Regret
During an interaction with Dr. Vivek Bindra on his show The Bada Bharat Show a month ago, Gambhir was involved in answering some rapid fire questions. Upon being asked the biggest regret of his life so far, he surprisingly answered that he shouldn’t have been a cricketer!
Such is the nature of rapid fire segments, that the anchor had to quickly move on towards the next question, leaving no scope for counter-questioning. In fact, even later into the interaction, Dr. Bindra didn’t bother to ask him the reason for his regret.
