Gautam Gambhir: Some facts you should not miss about the cricketer

Adm Desk Oct 11, 2018

The left handed opening batsmen of the Indian cricket team, Gautam Gambhir was born on 14th October, 1941. He is a renowned cricketer and has been the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Gautam Gambhir is the recipient of Arjuna Award which is the second highest sporting award in India. He was conferred with the award by the President of India in 2009. Gambhir has also won the ICC Test Player of the Year award. He was ranked number one in the ICC Test Rankings.

He is the only Indian cricketer to have scored centuries in 5 consecutive Test matches. Apart from him, only four international cricketers have the same record. He is also the only Indian cricketer to have scored more than 300 runs in four successive test series. He is the sixth highest run scorer in Twenty20 Internationals for India, as of April 2018. It was under his captaincy that in 2012 and again in 2014 Kolkata Knight Riders won their IPL title.

Early Life and Education

Gambhir comes from a very humble family. His father Deepak Gambhir, manages a textiles business, and mother Seema Gambhir is a housewife. Gambhir was adopted by his grandparents at a very early age. He also has a younger sister who is two years younger to him. Her name is Ekta. He started playing cricket at the age of 10.

He went to Modern School, New Delhi and r5eceived his higher education from Hindu College, University of Delhi. He used to stay with his maternal uncle Pawan Gulati at his residence during the 90’s. Gambhir believes his uncle to be his mentor and often calls him to watch his matches. In 2000, he was selected for the first intake of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

In October 2011, Gambhir married Natasha Jain, the daughter of a prominent businessman. He currently resides in Rajendra Nagar, New Delhi.

Career

Indian Premiere League

Gambhir played his first IPL match in the team of Delhi Dare Devils. He was picked up by the Delhi Daredevils for a price of US$725,000 a year. He scored 534 runs in 14 matches and became the second highest run-scorer of the inaugural season. In the next season he came back but now as the Captain if the Delhi Daredevils in 2010 IPL Tournament.

In the 2011 IPL, Gambhir was taken in the team of Kolkata Knight Riders after winning a bid of $2.4 million. This made Gambhir the highest paid cricketer in the history of IPL. The Kolkata Knight Riders qualified for the IPL playoffs under Gambhir's captaincy. It was under his leadership that for the first time the team made it to the Champions League Twenty20. In 2012 IPL, he scored 6 half-centuries out of a total of nine from his team KKR. He also became the only the second player to cross the mark of 2000 runs in the history of the IPL and he is the second highest run scorer ever in the tournament. He made Kolkata Knight Riders win their second title in 2014 by winning against Kings XI Punjab by 3 wickets. He led Kolkata Knight Riders to the playoffs in 2016 and 2017.

In the 2018 IPL Auction, he was bought by the Delhi Daredevils for ₹2.8 crore. He was named the captain of the team. Gambhir left his captaincy after poor performances of the team, and announced Shreyas Iyer as the new captain of the team.

ODI’s and Test Matches

Gambhir scored two consecutive double-hundreds in 2002 which proved him to be a strong player for the team. In2003, he made his debut in the ODI against Bangladesh in the TVS Cup. He scored 71 and was named Man of the Match in his third match. His maiden century was against Sri Lanka in 2005. He made his Test debut against Australia in 2004. Ghambir could not show a well enough track record. Though he made 97 in Zimbabwe 2005, but failed to reach 30 against Sri Lanka. And so he was replaced in Tests by Wasim Jaffer,.

Between 2005 and 2007 while he was out of Test team, he played One Day Internationals. He was not selected for 2007 World Cup and this was very depressing for him. He said that "When I got dropped for the World Cup, there were times I didn't want to play anymore. I didn't want to practice. I couldn't motivate myself.” But he kept going and was selected for the One Day International on India's 2007 tour of Bangladesh. Gambhir scored his second century on that tour. He was now back in the game and continued to play well for the country.

Gambhir was selected in Indian team for the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, which India won in South Africa. Gambhir performed well, closing the tournament as India's top run scorer, with 227 at an average of 37.83.

In 2008 Gambhir solidified his place in the Test team with his high scores. He scored 858 runs at over 61 in seven matches.

In 2009 Gambhir played his first major Test series outside India in New Zealand. He scored 137 in the second innings. This innings led Virender Sehwag to call him 'The Second Wall' in reference to Rahul Dravid.

In the final of the Cricket World Cup 2011, Gambhir scored 97 from 122 balls. He had a good partnership with Kohli and later with MS Dhoni and was the star of the match after a match-winning partnership of 109 runs with MS Dhoni. Gambhir played in an amazing form till 2012.

However, while he was struggling in Tests, he had a rich run of form in ODIs. In August 2012, he was made the vice-captain of the T20 squad by the Indian selection committee.