Gambhir, India's next crisis man?
Strange that KKR are winning this season: Shah Rukh
(Gambhir, India's next crisis man?-(before IPL auction(infact inDEC 2010),i had predicted in this blog that he is man to watch this year(2011)...i hope he prove it both way as an individual and a team captain of KKR with his performance,acumenship and personal conduct in future(as by now people understand not to overreact or blindly follow anything!! i have seen his personal record,at times he gets angry on pitch/field during game-batting,fielding or balling,this is what i tell to aditi also,and it applies on me/anyone as well!!!
.....But my good wishes are with every player and every team!!.....VT)
Since decades, India's hopes of chasing a total have rested on a man who walks out to bat in a Number 10 jersey.
Often he has lived up to the expectations, at times even surpassed them and failed only rarely. The failures have resulted in certain losses for India, especially while chasing huge total, more so when the target has been daunting and almost always when the game happened to be a final.
On Saturday too, in what is expected to be his last World Cup match, came the rare occasion when Sachin Tendulkar failed. He was looking good, nudging the ball into the gaps and also pulled out the trademark straight drive, a sure sign of his form.
But the rub of the green went against him, a quick Malinga delivery taking the outside edge and with Virender Sehwag also out, all hopes of India winning a World Cup after 28 years seemed over.
But unlike the decades gone by, Gautam Gambhir did not let that happen. He dug in, attacked and defended as the situation demanded, rode his luck and came up with one of the most crucial innings played in a World Cup final.
The knock was as much a test of technique as it was of concentration and determination. Just as much about reading the game, as it was about adapting every time the opposition tried to pull a rabbit out of the hat.
In the star-studded Indian team, Gambhir's contribution has not been given its due. Often he has delivered when the chips were down, a bloody-minded attitude developed after years on the sidelines always helping him.
Gambhir has scored 4073 runs in 110 ODI innings at an average of 40.73. 58 of those innings have come while chasing in which he has scored 2,418 runs at an average of 49.34 with a highest score of 150 not out.
India have also won an incredible 44 of those 58 games with Gambhir scoring a whopping 2,036 runs in them at a staggering average of 56.55.
After Saturday, Gambhir has scored four of his nine hundreds in the second innings and India has won all the five games.
Gambhir himself has admitted that being dropped from the side after making his ODI debut in 2003 hurt him bad and he was desperate to wear the India colours again.
He ironed his technique while in the cold, something that has helped him score runs on all kinds of wickets. Traditionally an opener, Gambhir has eased into the No 3 slot as if he has been batting there since years and managed runs against all types of bowling attacks.
The years of being out of the team has helped him become a more determined cricketer, developed in him an attitude to never give up, something that helped him on Saturday when everyone thought the match was lost.
Not as flamboyant as the many in the team, it is natural for a man like Gambhir, who likes to maintain a low profile, to not get the attention he deserved.
But all that will change after Saturday. All that must change. India will not have the man wearing the No 10 jersey to depend on for too long. And they won't have to look much further than the man who has No 5 written on his back.
No comments:
Post a Comment