Gambhir on being dropped in Australia Tri-series: Former India opener was vocal about being dropped in Australia in 2012.
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Former India opening batsman Gautam Gambhir, who recently announced retirement from all formats of the game, was vocal about bring dropped from the team during the Commonwealth Bank Series in 2012.
Apparently, the then India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was at odds with playing the trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gambhir together. Dhoni was of the opinion that the three would making proceedings slow on the ground, thus allow the opposition batsmen to score more runs. Long-sighted vision regarding ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 was also mentioned.
In an interview with India Today, on being asked about whether Dhoni’s decision came as a shock to him, Gambhir was quoted, “It was a massive shock. It would be a massive shock for any cricketer. I’ve never heard anyone being told in 2012 that they would never be part of the 2015 World Cup because I always thought that if you keep scoring runs, age is just a number. If you’re not a liability on the field, you can go on to play as long as you want.
“Suddenly, when we are in Australia, it came as a shock to us that all the three cannot play together and we ended up playing together. When we were in a desperate need to win a game at Hobart, where Veeru [Virender Sehwag] and Sachin opened, I batted at No. 3 and Virat batted at No. 4, we all batted together. Earlier, it was a rotation thing. When MS [Dhoni] thought that it’s a desperate situation, I have to play the three of them.”
Gambhir further said that Dhoni should have stuck by his decision and not change it in a desperate situation. “If you take a decision, back your decision. Don’t go back on something which you’ve already decided. Either the first decision was wrong, either the second decision was wrong. If he [Dhoni] had taken that decision, he should have stuck with it,” he said.
Gambhir, who scored his 43rd First-class century in his last match against Andhra at Delhi, was only the second captain to have won two IPL (Indian Premier League) titles. Known for his proactive captaincy, Gambhir turned KKR’s fortunes in 2012 and 2014.
Gambhir had also captained India six times in ODIs, winning all the matches. Gambhir was then asked about whether he thought that he would have been a great captain for India. “I don’t know. I haven’t captained India for a very long time. But, I think I would have,” he said.
“The most important thing in being a captain is being selfless and honest. Probably, I’ve got both in me. I don’t like to speak highly about myself. When I look back at my career, I can keep my head high and say that I’ve been honest to my profession. I’ve been very selfless as well. Whenever I captained KKR, I was dead honest,” he further said.
Having played under numerous captains, Gambhir also picked his all-time favourite leader. “The most selfless man and selfless leader that I have played under is Anil Kumble. I’ve learnt a lot from him.
I’ve played under lots and lots of captains but I have played under only one leader, i.e., Kumble. I had played only five Test matches under him. I’ve learnt a lot of my leadership skills for him. He way he was selfless, passionate, honest about his cricket,” I concluded.
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