The return of Gautam Gambhir-Sunday, Dec 12, 2010

The return of Gautam Gambhir

Boria Majumdar

Posted: Sunday, Dec 12, 2010 at 2353 hrs IST

Tags: Return Of Gautam Gambhir | Gambhir Played Fantastic Role

It was a dream 2009 for him. Five consecutive centuries, which included a terrific away hundred in New Zealand, Gautam Gambhir had suddenly established himself as a future successor to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But as it happens with every good player, a lull followed. Starts weren’t converted, inside edges inevitably found the base of the stumps, excellent first up balls weren’t duly negotiated and the test match average for 2010 plummeted to a dismal 21 with a poor first test against New Zealand.

With Murali Vijay making the most of the limited opportunities on offer, questions were beginning to be asked if Gambhir was being given a chance too many. To add to his misery, every Test match was followed by some injury forcing him to miss half the matches played in the year. Put bluntly- it was a year to forget, one of turning ordinary mortal again. As he readied himself for the New Zealand series Gautam was aware of the task at hand. South Africa is waiting he very well knew. This was his last opportunity to come back to form and reassure his supporters. To his credit and to the delight of us all, he has done so in style. Two fighting half centuries in the test matches allowed him the time in the middle that he so badly needed. The touch, it was apparent, was gradually coming back.

In this situation, when he wasn’t at his best, he was made captain of India. It was an either or situation. He could either collapse under the burden of captaincy and even lose his test spot to Vijay or once again make himself a potent candidate to succeed M S Dhoni. With back to back hundreds, he has achieved the latter in style. Except the first few deliveries in Guwahati, when he played and missed, Gautam has been flawless. Anything outside off has been cut and driven with grace and anything remotely sliding down has been punished with deft flicks and nudges. The power shots have also come out, as have the pulls and inside out dispatches. If Guwahati was the trailer, Jaipur witnessed the full Gautam Gambhir range. As if to tell the world that the exhibition isn’t short lived he continued into the third one dayer at Vadodara. Sprinting out the blocks, the Indian captain made the competition into a no contest and giving us all the much needed confidence ahead of the tour of South Africa.

At the core of India’s success as a test team over the last two years is our opening partnership. With the one and only Sehwag at the other hand, Gambhir has played a fantastic role in giving India starts that have on most occasions been converted into 400 plus first innings scores by the middle order. Negotiating the new ball while also scoring at a brisk pace, this Indian opening partnership creates fear in the minds of the opposition. Most teams in the world have started to dread Sehwag and Gambhir and that’s the big plus India takes with her to South Africa. To compete with Steyn and company, they will have to play a key role in the weeks ahead. If the one day batting form is anything to go by, Gautam Gambhir is ready. Ready once more to stand up to the challenge of claiming for himself the coveted spot of one of India’s best opening batsman of all time. He is making good form count and failure has made him hungry and far more determined than I have seen him in the past. He knows he has a reputation to preserve and a benchmark to stand up to and will do all he can to ensure he doesn’t let his fans down. It must be acknowledged that this Indian side, unlike any other before it, gives me hope on the eve of a South Africa series. It has all the necessary arsenal in its command and the re-invention of Gautam Gambhir has given it the last minute fillip it needed. We, it must be said, are ready.

The writer is a cricket historian