‘Gambhir doesn’t even look at me’: Former BCCI selector reveals India coach hasn’t spoken to him since getting dropped

[rollingstoned]

‘Gambhir doesn’t even look at me’: Former BCCI selector reveals India coach hasn’t spoken to him since getting dropped

It's been ages since he was dropped from the Indian team, but Gautam Gambhir has still not spoken to former BCCI chairman of selectors, Sandip Patil.

 

Sandeep Patil, the former BCCI chairman of selectors, has revealed that Gautam Gambhir has not spoken to him since being dropped from the Indian team. Gambhir, who was a pivotal figure in Indian cricket between 2006 and 2012 and a member of the two World Cup-winning teams in 2007 and 2011, played his last international match in November 2016. However, his first real exit from the team came in 2013.

 

Does Gautam Gambhir still hold a grudge?(AFP)

 

In his last 25 ODIs for India, Gambhir scored two centuries and six half-centuries – not bad by any stretch of the imagination – but the selectors thought otherwise and dropped him after the ODI series against England in 2013. Gambhir never played another limited-overs match for India. He featured only sporadically in Tests afterwards, playing two in England in 2014 and another two against New Zealand, but by then, his international career had effectively run its course.

Patil, speaking on the Vickey Lalwani show, said that while he and his panel took tough calls on the who’s who of Indian cricket – Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and even the great Sachin Tendulkar – Gambhir is the one who hasn’t moved on from the episode.

 

 

“When you are sitting in the chair of the selection committee, you are responsible for making some big calls. You’re not looking at your friendships/rapport with players. I’ve shared a good rapport with Sachin since he was 14. He has played under me, with me. Whenever I text him, he replies immediately. I met Yuvraj recently on the flight; very cordial. Even Virender Sehwag. They all talk to me nicely. Except Gambhir. He was very dear to me. Even today, I respect him a lot, but he is upset with me, and rightly so. Even I was upset with the selection committee when I got dropped. I scored a 100 in Pakistan, the highest at Kotla against England in both innings and got dropped. Never played Test cricket again,” Patil said.

‘Gambhir still upset’

 

Gambhir’s snub made way for Shikhar Dhawan, who made a stirring Test debut for India in Mohali against Australia, scoring a blistering 187. Alongside Rohit Sharma, Dhawan went on to form one of India’s most successful opening pairs in ODIs and T20Is, while Gambhir remained sidelined. He continued to play mainly for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL before returning to the Delhi Capitals, where he eventually finished his career and announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in 2018. It has been donkey years since Gambhir was dropped, but to Patil’s surprise, he still gets ignored whenever the two find themselves under the same roof.

 

 

“Gambhir is still upset. He has never spoken to me. We have come together on so many different shows. We’ve sat in the same room, but Gautam has never even looked at me. It’s fine. Every time I reached out to him or said a ‘Hi’, he has never responded. Not even a glance. But that’s fair enough,” added Gambhir.

“He was such a great guy. We played tennis together on tours; we’ve had such a great rapport. Gauti used to call me almost once every two weeks when I was removed as a coach. He is like that. Gautam was very serious about his career and remained focused on his batting and approach. No cricketer wants to leave the stage when you’re doing well. Nobody wants to get dropped. Laxman, Dravid quietly went away. Sehwag wanted to have a good celebration but didn’t get it. So I get it.”

 

 

[wanted_desi]

If you are making a way for Dhawan, you shouldn't be upset. Always think who replaced you and what was better for overhaul. Same way Dhawan wasn't upset as he made his way for Gill. 

[vvvslaxman]

But why would anyone want to have a friendly chat with gambhir lol His partner sehwag is different type of cringe. Bhajji is another cringe. Only Sachin Dravid Laxman were decent from thst bunch

[vvvslaxman]

2 minutes ago, wanted_desi said:

If you are making a way for Dhawan, you shouldn't be upset. Always think who replaced you and what was better for overhaul. Same way Dhawan wasn't upset as he made his way for Gill. 

Dhawan even wished him I think

[Lord]

3 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

But why would anyone want to have a friendly chat with gambhir lol His partner sehwag is different type of cringe. Bhajji is another cringe. Only Sachin Dravid Laxman were decent from thst bunch

Kumble too

[IndianRenegade]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

But why would anyone want to have a friendly chat with gambhir lol His partner sehwag is different type of cringe. Bhajji is another cringe. Only Sachin Dravid Laxman were decent from thst bunch

Because he is WC winning coach Sandeep sir decided to use this to get some attention. 

[AKane]

2 minutes ago, IndianRenegade said:

Because he is WC winning coach Sandeep sir decided to use this to get some attention. 

Of course. When you are a "former" anything in India - esp in the official circles - nobody cares about you anymore.

[Lord]

3 minutes ago, IndianRenegade said:

Because he is WC winning coach Sandeep sir decided to use this to get some attention. 

Exactly this. 

[G_B_]

Suck it up Patil.

 

Nobody under any obligation to talk to anybody.

[vvvslaxman]

53 minutes ago, IndianRenegade said:

Because he is WC winning coach Sandeep sir decided to use this to get some attention. 

Even with world cup winning why would anyone lol I don't think this guy is a friendly guy.

[tapandrun]

This is not a new news, GG in one of his older interviews have said this about the time being dropped from the Ind side.

 

He along with multiple senior player were dropped after winning the 2011-Odi Wc, team was losing matches and series after the wc win, per him he was getting some runs not in that quantity but he was getting runs.

 

Then all of them were dropped and its common for player to call or selectors to call players specially players which such big status, he didnt get a call nor did he called the chief selector (Patil) that was it.

 

Do not think a Del player (or for that matter any other domestic side) unless meeting in some function or somewhere would call/contact a retired player of some other state.

 

As for some claiming he was dropped fr Dhawal are wrong, he was not. They picked dhawal for test which was not his  best format and it was white-ball.

Dhawal got picked because multiple del players were dropped so selectors were forced to select some1 from del.

 

In an unrelated interview dhawal also said he lost the hope that he will play for Ind, he saw others and younger player like kolhi got selected, he thought his time was up 

 

Edited March 12 by tapandrun

[putrevus]

So GG has right to be mad when he was removed for better players but others cannot be mad at him when he removed guys like Sarfraz for inferior players.

 

"Tum kare toh Balatkar, Hum kare toh chamatkar," seems to be his motto.

[Ultimate_Game]

Gambhir is a vindictive person. He's a double edged sword - he'll back his players to the hilt like Harshit Rana which is an admirable quality but he'll also be biased against certain players and never back them such as Iyer or pushing for Sundar in LOIs when he's clearly a misfit.

[Late Cut]

GG had his favorite shot of gliding anything outside the off stump to slip or gully. Of course he got dropped. 

[kosingh]

Gambhir doesn't speak to his high school coach either.  Gambhir thought he was Lara with the bat and Curtly Ambrose with the ball. Coach told him to just focus on batting. Gambhir stormed out of the school in disgust, and never spoke to the coach again. He vowed that one day he would prove the coach wrong. 

 

Modern School (Barakhamba Road), Delhi.