The Indian team head coach Gautam Gambhir is a highly misunderstood character. During his playing days, Gambhir showcased incredible passion, and played a big part in many of India’s famous victories. He played a big part in India’s 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup triumphs. With these tournaments, Gambhir emerged as one of India’s finest match-winners but there were times when he had to compete with some top players for his spot in the team.
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra, who was also an opening batter during his playing days, revealed how drastic changes were made in the team to accommodate batters which also led to Virender Sehwag being shifted down to the number 4 spot.
“We are competitors because we were fighting for one place. Our team was very good. When we were playing, only one of Kohli and Dhawan got the chance to play. The team was like that. In fact, there was no place for even Viru to open the batting. Viru batted four so that we can accommodate one of Shikhar and Virat at 3,” recalled Chopra in a podcast with Raj Shamani on YouTube.
Chopra also admitted that he wasn’t friends with Gambhir as there was a huge competition for the opening batter spot in the team at that time. But Gambhir’s passion was visible to all, including Chopra.
“We were competitors to begin with. He wasn’t a friend, to be honest. (But he was a) very passionate guy, very hard working, and very serious about his craft. And he scored a lot of runs. But he always wore his heart on the sleeve, was extremely passionate, and could short-fuse very quickly in terms of temperament,” Chopra said.
“He’s a good hearted guy, comes from a very affluent family. For that kid to have that kind of passion… he would be at the ground the whole day. He was born with a golden spoon, not even silver. It’s a different journey, basically like Abhinav Bindra. Gautam has the heart at the right place,” Chopra added.
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