Having played a lot of cricket with and under former India batter Gautam Gambhir for both his state and Indian Premier League teams over the years, domestic stalwart Rajat Bhatia was once unsure of the former’s captaincy skills.
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Belonging to Delhi, both Bhatia and Gambhir had been playing together since their junior cricket days. As years passed, they found themselves plying their respective trades for the same teams in the first six IPL seasons. Part of Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) between 2008-2010, they were coincidentally bought by Kolkata Knight Riders during IPL 2011 auction where Gambhir was sold for a record-breaking amount.
It is to be noted that former India batter and Gambhir’s long-time opening partner Virender Sehwag had led Daredevils in the first two IPL seasons. Even though Gambhir’s IPL leadership is fondly remembered for a couple of titles at KKR, it is noteworthy that he had led DD in Champions League Twenty20 2009 and IPL 2010 (before returning for a short stint in IPL 2018) after Sehwag had stepped down despite finishing at the top of the table in IPL 2009.
Rajat Bhatia Had Noticed Lack Of Maturity In Gautam Gambhir’s Captaincy
Talking to Sports Tiger, Bhatia revealed how his doubts around Gambhir’s leadership went away after playing under him at Kolkata. In 2010, Bhatia had observed a lack of maturity in Gambhir’s captaincy. As a result, he wasn’t sure if he would enjoy his IPL stint for the Knight Riders.
Bhatia, however, experienced a whole different version of a leader in Gambhir IPL 2011 onwards. A regular member of their Playing XI even at the cost of benching specialist pacers, Bhatia was a part of the KKR’s squad which lifted the franchise’s first title in 2012. He played all 17 matches during the season picking 13 wickets.
Gambhir, who had observed Bhatia from close quarters due to their time together for Delhi in domestic cricket, excelled by using him efficiently in the middle overs.
“During his third year for Delhi Daredevils [in 2010], there was a lack of maturity in his captaincy. When we both moved to KKR and he became the captain, I had a doubt whether I’ll be able to enjoy under his captaincy or not.”
“When Gautam was there as the captain of KKR, he used to prefer me in his Playing 11 and made me play consistently. He never let me get dropped and played me consistently. He always used to tell me that he believed in me and knew how to use me and that’s why I enjoyed playing under him.”
Joy Bhattacharjya, former Kolkata team director, once revealed that Gambhir always used to take Bhatia with him for pitch inspections. Since Bhatia had played domestic cricket across the country, Gambhir used to bank on his expertise as far as judging the nature of the pitches was concerned.
Rajat Bhatia Had Once Provided Rationale Behind Gautam Gambhir-Virat Kohli Fight
Apart from his cricketing achievements, Bhatia is also famous for trying to make peace between Gambhir and former India and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli during their IPL 2015 heated battle. Recalling the incident in an interview with Times Now in 2020, Bhatia had mentioned it to be a consequence of a clash between two aggressive captains.
“That is something that happened when two aggressive captains played and they always want to give their best and win for their respective teams. Even if they had any kind of collision in that match, it was just a part of the game.”
Bhatia, however, clarified that there was nothing more to the incident than just being a rare on-field encounter between two athletes. That said, another episode of Gambhir-Kohli fight had been recorded at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium earlier this year.
