'Only monster should be Indian cricket' - Gautam Gambhir wants fans to stop idolizing one player alone in the team

Gautam Gambhir(Image Source: Twitter)

Gautam Gambhir has been the talk of the town of late for various reasons. He earlier opined that Virat Kohli should not open the innings and then challenged Rohit Sharma to clinch a win against Australia to make it big in the 20-20 World Cup 2022. 

The Delhi-born has once again hit the headlines for his comments on the Indian dressing room. During an interaction with Indian Express on the ‘Idea Exchange’, Gautam Gambhir said that the obsession with a particular individual from a team must end. He further added that the Indian team must be the only monster and the media must stop creating monsters from inside the dressing room. 

 “Don’t create monsters in the dressing room. Only monster should be Indian cricket, not an individual,” Gambhir said to Indian Express. The southpaw further added that the team and the media must focus on only one thing and that is ‘India’. Tracing back to Kapil Dev’s victory in 1983, Gautam Gambhir said that the worship of Kapil Dev alone must come to an end. 

Commenting on the match between India and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup when Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar duo shone brightly with bat and ball respectively, Gambhir said that everyone forgot the latter’s five-for. He further criticized the fans for idolizing the Indian veteran alone and not the guy from Meerut. 

“When Kohli got a 100 and there was this young guy from a small town of Meerut , who also managed to get five wickets, no one even bothered to speak about him. This was so unfortunate. I was the only one, during that commentary stint, who said that. He bowled four overs and got five wickets and I don’t think anyone knows about that,” Gambhir said. 

The frustrated former cricketer further slammed the media for working only for TRPs and not for the country. 

“You called him for a 5-minute interview after the match. How long did you run it? Just because he’s not a brand. He must have also worked equally hard. He must have also come from a humble background. He also deserves the same appreciation and the same credit. But because he’s not sellable or probably doesn’t get the numbers or the TRP. Everything can’t be about numbers Everything can’t be TRP. If the marketing team cannot sell someone, it is their problem,” Gautam Gambhir concluded.