India Legend Criticises Hero Status, Hails “Misunderstood” Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir is the favourite to become the new head coach of Team India, and India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has reminisced a heartwarming story about Gambhir. Speaking at a launch event for his book ‘I Have the Streets – A Kutti Cricket Story’, Ashwin mentioned that Gambhir is a “very misunderstood person”. Having won IPL 2024 as mentor of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Gambhir is the favourite to succeed Rahul Dravid and take over charge of the Indian team after the 2024 T20 World Cup. Ashwin recalled how Gambhir had supported him during his early days in the Indian team.

“I was playing my first full series, after only carrying drinks for the first two years. It was he (Gambhir) who gave me a lot of confidence at the beginning,” said Ashwin. “I was not used to someone beyond my state giving me that sort of confidence,” recalled Ashwin.

Ashwin hails from Tamil Nadu in southern India, while Gambhir is from Delhi in northern India.

Gambhir’s attitude and aggression is often misunderstood, said Ashwin.

“Gautam Gambhir is a very misunderstood person. He is a fighter,” he said. “We give hero status to someone in our mind, and forget about everyone else. This is a sport, not a movie,” Ashwin added.

“There are no heroes and villains. Gambhir is a competitor. His desire and hunger to win is unbelievable. I have a massive amount of respect for him,” said Ashwin.

Gambhir had recently also appeared on Ashwin’s own podcast ‘Kutti Stories with Ash’, as the two met ahead of a clash between KKR and Rajasthan Royals, Ashwin’s franchise in IPL 2024.

Gambhir has been peppered with several questions about his future, but played down speculation. Speaking at an event hosted by the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Gambhir said, “I just finished a brilliant journey (with KKR), let’s enjoy that.”

Gambhir and former India women’s coach WV Raman are going head-to-head for the role of Team India’s head coach. Interestingly, the two had worked together for KKR in 2014, when Gambhir was the captain of the franchise and Raman was the batting coach. KKR also happened to win the IPL title that year as well.