Unsung Hero of India’s historic world cup wins, Gautam Gambhir retires

NP NEWS 24 ONLINE –Gautam Gambhir, the man who scored the highest run in 2007 when India won the inaugural T20 world cup, in 2011 when India lifted the world cup on its own backyard after 28 years of long wait has now finally retired from all formats of cricket.

GG was arguably one of the most stylish left-hand batsmen India will ever have.

He tweeted to let everyone know about his retirement news, “The most difficult decisions are often taken with the heaviest of hearts. And with one heavy heart, I’ve decided to make an announcement that I’ve dreaded all my life.”

When the greats of Indian cricket like Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid retired he was India’s, go-to man. He helped India go pass the transition period in 2008-09. When Sachin stopped opening and Ganguly said goodbye to cricket, he took the responsibility to open the innings for India with Virendra Sehwag. They both became successful in no time.

With over 10000 runs from his 56 Tests, 147 ODIs and 37 T20Is – not to mention the leading Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL titles – Gambhir has been a grand contributor to Indian cricket.

A century in his second ODI back and a final-winning fifty in the inaugural World Twenty20 paved the way for his Test return. Test fifties against Murali and Mendis in the summer of  2008 made him realize where he belonged. In his next 13 Tests, he scored eight centuries: centuries to set up wins, centuries to bat opposition out, and centuries to hold on for draws, including the near 11-hour marathon in Napier. The Arjuna Award came his way, the ICC named him the Test player of 2009, but much more tellingly Sehwag called him the best Indian Test opener since Sunil Gavaskar. He scored a match-winning 97 in the 2011 World Cup final.

2007 World T20

This was Gambhir’s turning point in life as he was not selected for the 2007 ODI world cup but he made it count when he was selected in the shortest form of cricket. The greats of Indian cricket decided not to play the world T20 and he got himself a place in the squad where he was doing what he always wanted to do i.e. ‘opening the innings’. He made an impact in final semis and a virtual quarter-final with England. He used to stop the ball under his bat by playing with soft hands and used to take quick singles. In a game where everyone thought sixes and fours are necessary he was the first one to believe that singles are also equally important.

2011 World Cup

GG was not picked up for 2007 world cup and in 2011 he was India’s, go-to man. It was Sachin’s last world cup and India would be superstar, Virat Kohli didn’t even had the beard. He opened the innings with Sehwag and almost in every match got India off to a good start. He scored the 50s against England South Africa and Australia. He then went on to score one of the most important 90s in the history of Indian cricket, on the night of final. Many say that if GG would have scored 3 more runs he would have never dropped out off Indian cricket.