More »
If Gambhir
wasn’t angry, he won’t be Gambhir. When he’s dismissed early, he sits and sulks
with his pads on, snacking at his nails, lost in his private world of regret. So
far, this has been an unfamiliar sight in IPL 9.
After six matches, Gambhir has scored 296 runs
with three half centuries that include a ninety not out and a run out. In his column,
he ripped into himself: “To begin with, my suicidal run out was uncalled for.
Halfway into the second run, I knew I had given it away. I wanted to dig a hole
and bury himself” By Gambhir standards, that’s almost restrained. In the dugout
that day, he looked like he was on the line with the local firing squad.
It looks unlikely though that he’s in line for an
India spot. The Delhi and KKR captain last played for India on 17th August
2014. It was a Test against England, his returns, a duck and three. Gambhir's
last ODI for India, 27th January, 2013, he made four. And his last
T20I was on 28th December, 2012, he made 21.
In the last couple of years, much has changed in
India's cricketscape – Gambhir’s opening buddy, Sehwag has retired, Gambhir’s
India skipper, Dhoni has partially retired, but Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane,
Rohit Sharma and Murali Vijay are yet to seal their spots in all three formats.
One way or the other, there has always been an opening on top or in the middle
order. One that even allowed Suresh Raina to record a pair in the last Test he
played in 2015.
So regardless of what Gambhir achieves in the IPL
or for Delhi, if he has to sneak back into the national squad, it will be
because of the fault lines that continue to shake his replacements. In his 35th
year, Gambhir isn’t over the Aravallis yet. But the selectors could well be
over him.
At his best, Gambhir won India a World T20 and a
World Cup. At his worst, he poked outside off, giving catching practice to the
slips. That dab down to third man was his nemesis. It cost him his India cap.
Leaving him even more determined, more so when the IPL came along.
Much of Gambhir’s convictions remain the same: he
believes in himself much as he does in his band of brothers at KKR, in spite of
their flaws, possibly because of their flaws. For, with Gambhir, it appears, to
know your flaws is the best way to know your powers – Yususf Pathan, Robin
Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Piyush Chawla, Surya Kumar Yadav, Andre Russell and
coach Kallis, are still the core of KKR.
In his column, Gambhir often gets personal, but in
an affectionate, almost awkwardly honest way about his players, like they were
his immediate family. He confronts stereotypes as a cricketer columnist, not
afraid to voice his opinion, be it on Salman Khan as India’s Olympic goodwill
ambassador or the name change of Gurgoan. He doesn’t shudder from referring to
Yusuf as a good friend or Surya’s non-acceptance in Mumbai cricket because of
his flash ways. Gambhir’s honesty and straight talk is pretty much a rarity in
Indian cricket’s world of doublespeak or still worse, no speak.
In 2011, he was honest enough about his
disappointment at not being retained by his original IPL franchise, the Delhi
Daredevils. He was honest enough about finding a new home in Kolkata with the
Knightriders. And now he’s being honest enough about gunning for a third IPL
title in 2016.
What he doesn’t talk about is playing for India
again. Is it because that’s a bridge too far? Or is it because you build
bridges, you don’t talk bridges? Perhaps he knows the difference between
talking as a contender and speaking as a former India cricketer past his prime.
Either way, this grumpy, stubbled guy has much to
give Indian cricket. If not as a batsman or captain, then who knows, maybe as
an administrator. Both Delhi and the BCCI could do with some honesty.
Cc: Lodha Panel, Justice Mudgal
No comments:
Post a Comment