2017 ICC Champions Trophy: Gautam Gambhir Wishes Shikhar Dhawan Success Ahead of CT
Nov 2, 2023 at 3:52 PM
Fans witnessed great camaraderie on Twitter between the Delhi duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir recently.
Dhawan was one of the first names to congratulate Gautam Gambhir for winning the FBB Stylish player of the season award. In return, Dhawan received a hearty best of luck ahead of the challenging Champions Trophy campaign from the KKR captain.
Gambhir finished the tournament as the second highest run-getter with 498 runs from 16 matches including four fifties. His top form in the league enabled him to accumulate three FBB Stylish Player Of The Match award throughout the season.
Kings XI Punjab opener Hashim Amla, teammate Manish Pandey, and Rising Pune Supergiant’s Manoj Tiwary also garnered three such awards each. However, Gambhir eventually edged past them to end up with the final honour.
A day after the tournament finished Dhawan gave shout out to Gambhir and congratulated his senior for the achievement.
Truly deserving of the FBB Stylish award @GautamGambhir Rabb Rakha 👍👍🙏🏼🙏🏼
— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) May 22, 2017
Gambhir was also grateful and made a quick reply.
Thanks shikhi gud luck for the champions trophy do well.
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) May 22, 2017
The two Delhi stars have been competing for the opener’s position in the national team lately. Dhawan’s dwindling form last year made the selectors look for a viable option for the opener’s role across all three formats.
The 25-year-old KL Rahul appeared as the perfect replacement before injuries pushed him to the sidelines while opening the gates for Gautam Gambhir, who displayed great form last during the domestic season.
However, after a short return during the home series against New Zealand, Gambhir was dropped after Rahul recovered and made himself available.
Gambhir, however, presented staring case for selection once again ahead of the Champions Trophy by leading his side Kolkata Knight Rider as a batsman with great success. With KL Rahul unavailable yet again due to injuries, many felt that the veteran might sneak in the touring party which was set to travel to the UK for Champions Trophy defence.
However, the selectors chose the conservative approach and stuck with the tried and tested ODI opening pair of Rohit Sharma – Shikhar Dhawan. Thereby, dashing all hopes for Gambhir.
But, the recent conversation on twitter simply tells about the ability of cricketers to respect each other by keeping personal and professional matters away from each other (there no rivalry between the two anyway).
The Champions Trophy commences from June 1st. India, the defending champions, will open its campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan at Edgbaston on June 4 in Edgbaston.