Take one for the team, Gambhir!
Gautam Gambhir is at the receiving end of a lot of flak these days. While some would argue that the allegations against him are the product of ill-conceived publicity, others believe that the accusations are quite justified. Recently, following the home series against England, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of India, lodged a complaint against the left-handed opening batsman. Apparently, Gautam Gambhir profile is adjudged a tad non-altruistic.
Dhoni has stated that he is appalled at Gambhir’s on-field attitude and ethics. Dhoni expresses that Gambhir is not working towards the betterment of the Indian team but is singularly focusing on cementing his place in the squad. Gambhir has even treaded over the social norms to unsavory territories and is appearing to be hurtful to the rest of his team mates. Simply put, he sorely lacks a good sports man’s spirit. He has been a little off his usual good form lately which in turn has been a blow to his self-esteem. The frustration that he has been facing is being channeled out to his colleagues. Dhoni cites an incident that happened during a match in the Mumbai Test series where Gambhir batted in the second innings but seemed to be hell bent on not getting out than actually scoring runs. While R Ashwin, who is a non-specialist batsman, was scoring vital runs during the Kolkata Test series, Gambhir chose to remain inactive. Add to this a couple more disappointing moves by Gambhir, and you get a Dhoni, who is ready to explode.
It needs to be maintained here that, Dhoni is in no way questioning the Gautam Gambhir statistics, integrity or loyalty, just his overall involvement with the Indian team. So having no other choice, Dhoni, without dragging out the issue further, has gone straight to the The Board Of Control For Cricket In India and lodged a complaint. The BCCI officials are slated to look into the matter and level the issues with Gambhir prior to the upcoming match. Just as there are two sides to coin, so in all fairness, Gambhir is sure to have his version of the story.
People close to Gambhir assert that he could be the victim of a power play and Dhoni is in fact really threatened and insecure about losing his captaincy and possibly visualises Gambhir as a plausible threat. Whatever may be the case, just remember there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’, but there sure is one each in ‘Dhoni’ and Gambhir’.
