Tags:
Journalism of Courage
He’s known as a difficult man with a quirky temperament: a player who thinks poetically and reacts to things in an almost lyrical manner; bad-tempered sometimes, mild-mannered and sombre at others. It’s hard to paint a definitive picture of Gautam Gambhir. As a batsman, he’s a left-hander barely bordering on elegance, as a fielder he may as well have two left feet, as a person he’s shy to the extent of appearing rude, as a team mate he has been described as “aloof bordering on reclusive”.
But, once we are done with analysing sledging and auctioning and Dhoni’s emergence as an instinctive leader, once the dust settles on the 2007-08 season of change in Indian cricket, it may well be remembered as the time when a clumsy, flat-footed man called Gambhir came into his own. It’s not just statistics that are on his side as India go into the best-of-three finals against Australia. There is something more, an X-factor that seems to walk out with him when he steps to the crease.
The only example in recent times that relates loosely to Gambhir, for me, is that of Darren Lehmann. In an Australian line-up that also included Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Steve Waugh and Adam Gilchrist, there was something about the portly frame of Lehmann that always made us want to dismiss him. Despite his small cult following, his was the name we scoffed at when the team was sounded off. The records told an entirely different story. With a Test average of 46 and a one-day average of 39, he survived — more on than off — for six years, in one of the finest teams ever assembled. And after his retirement, he was forgotten almost instantly.
What is it about Gambhir that makes him equally forgettable? He uses his feet against the spinners, weaves and cuts against the quicks, dances down the track and uses the long handle. He may open the face of his bat even when it isn’t absolutely necessary but, in defence, he is as imprecise as many others, and better than several who have donned the top-three batting positions for India over the years in one-day cricket. Still, something seems to make him irritating to lovers of the beautiful game. And, unlike Dhoni or Yuvraj, he can’t even find a place in the heart of the rebellious cricket fan who relishes unbelievably audacious stroke-play, because Gambhir is not nearly as emphatic.
Or is it just years of accumulated bad press that’s stopping people from showering their affection on him despite his consistency? In the aftermath of his 422 runs in the tri-series so far, there have been no colourful quotes or peppy anecdotes on Gambhir. The Indian cricket media works in funny ways, and I fear that so many influential opinion-makers —with pens in their hands and empty newspaper columns at their disposal — have written him off so ardently in the past that they’re finding it difficult now to compose phrases in his praise. In the back of their minds, they are all waiting for him to fail. “I told you so”, after all, is a far easier sentiment to express than “I didn’t see it coming”.
Should it be that way? Experts may not have initially believed in his ability, but his effectiveness this season — after the Twenty20 campaign and the current run in Australia — cannot not be a matter of debate anymore. The trend of making Gambhir the centrepiece of a cricketing star-cast must catch up. Not just when it comes to picking an IPL team, as Delhi have done, but also when it comes to celebrating his prolific new turn.
