Gambhir’s Passion for the Game

Gautam Gambhir’s a short fuse showed in his batting in his younger days. Now, things are different

Gautam Gambhir has a short fuse. In his younger days, this showed in his batting too. He lacked patience. And his innings were like frustrating dates. Everything started well, but one wrong move would bring an evening of potential to a premature demise. Things are very different today.

Gambhir is India’s most productive batsman right now. He returned to the Test side in December 2007 and has since played 12 Tests, scoring 1,587 runs at an average of 144. In three Tests in New Zealand, where India won their first series since 1968, Gambhir scored 445 runs at an average of 89. He hit two successive second innings centuries. Also, no Indian batsman has scored as many runs in his first 25 Tests as Gambhir (2,271 at an average of 54.07).

The 27-year-old’s match-saving 137 in the second Test in Napier was a 10-hour, 43-minute epic over 436 deliveries. This is the same man who was India’s highest scorer in the World T20 (227 runs at an average of 37.83) and the world’s leading scorer in one-day internationals in 2008 (1,119 at 46.62). This is called versatility.

“He had concentration, but he would get out to the new ball. Now, he has learnt to see the new ball off,” says coach Vasu Paranjape. In 2000, Gambhir was among the first batch of trainees at the National Cricket Academy, where Paranjape and Roger Binny were the coaches.

“All batsmen are uncomfortable against bounce and swing,” Paranjape says. “While others continue to flounder, he [Gambhir] has improved.”

The impressive thing about Gambhir is his passion for the game. You can see he hates to get out. Even if he does well, he looks unhappy when returning to the pavilion. The head hangs, the hands do not move, the feet just about drag his body forward. Despite his success over the last two years, he wants more. That’s a good sign for Indian cricket.

There was a time when Gambhir and his friends would set off on culinary adventures near Jama Masjid. With a few sartorial tweaks, he would easily blend in with the crowd. That is no longer possible. The anonymity is gone. But who’s complaining?

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