It seems like Gautam Gambhir has got the uncanny knack of keeping himself in news most of the time these days. His pics of eating Jalebi in Indore went viral as he missed a parliamentary meeting on Pollution in Delhi due to his commentary commitments with Star Sports and now he has blamed Dhoni for not able to score a World Cup Hundred which has irked Dhoni fans.
On Saturday in an interview with an online portal, Gambhir stated that he missed scoring a hundred in the World Cup final in 2011 due to the advice of his captain MS Dhoni. “I have been asked this question many times, on what happened when I was on 97. I tell every youngster and every person that before getting to 97, I never thought about my own individual score but looked at the target set by Sri Lanka. I remember that when an over was completed, I and Dhoni were at the crease. He told me that ‘these three runs are remaining, get these three runs and your hundred would be completed’. Suddenly, when your mind turns to your individual performance, individual score, then, somewhere, you have a rush of blood. Before this moment, my target was only to chase Sri Lanka’s target. If only that target remained in my mind, maybe, I would have easily scored my hundred,” Gambhir said.
“That’s why, till I was on 97, I was in the present, but as soon as I thought, I am three runs away from getting a hundred, then that rush of blood caused by the desire to get to a hundred (took over). That’s why it’s so important to remain in the present… when I was walking back to the dressing room after being dismissed, I said to myself that these three runs would trouble me for the rest of my life and that is true. Even to this day, people ask me why I couldn’t get those three runs,” Gambhir added.
While Gambhir got out on 97, Dhoni remained not out on 91 and hit a six to win the match. Dhoni also won the Man of the Match. Gambhir’s contribution was pushed in the back, while Dhoni took away the credit with India’s first World Cup win in 28 years.
Gambhir has been quite often in criticizing Dhoni in the past for his captaincy. In 2012 Dhoni applied the rotational policy in ODIs for the openers (Sachin, Sehwag, and Gambhir) for the triangular series in Australia, to which Gambhir said “I believe that one should follow the captain’s decision but it was complete crap. You started with the rotation policy but played all the three in the must-win games. If you make a decision, back your decision, stick to it.”