Humbled Gautam Gambhir thank fans for the support
Oct 13, 2016 at 11:08 AM
When Gautam Gambhir emerged from the pavilion with Murali Vijay, millions across the country were excited to see the 2011 World Cup final hero in action after a two-year hiatus.
The southpaw became the darling of the nation after playing a starring role in two World Cup finals – World T20 in 2007 and 50-overs World Cup in 2011. Not only that, he also played a pivotal role in the Test team when India achieved the number one rank for the first time in its history. But a string of poor performances with the bat saw him getting dropped in July 2014. Gambhir was one of the best players in the country that time and it was expected that he will make a comeback in the national team. However, Shikhar Dhawan along with Murali Vijay in Tests and Rohit Sharma in ODIs was doing well and any hope of Gambhir getting a chance in the Indian team was looking bleak. But the southpaw never lost the hope and kept on performing well in the domestic circuit.
He was heavily tipped to make it to the team in the squad for the Test series against New Zealand after a brilliant outing in the Duleep Trophy which coincided with Shikhar Dhawan’s poor form but the selectors did not want to disturb the winning combination and gave Dhawan another chance. But as they fortunes favour the brave and Gambhir was recalled in the team by a stroke of luck when in-form opener KL Rahul was ruled out of the series after suffering an injury. He also got a chance in the playing eleven when Dhawan got injured during the second Test.
Gambhir, undoubtedly showed a lot of fighting spirit to make a comeback but there is no denying the fact that he received a lot of support from the fans during the tough phase. Some fans even staged a protest when the Delhi batsman was not selected in the team for New Zealand series and the batsman made it sure to thank the fans after playing the third Test in which he scored 29 and 50.
Gambhir took to Twitter to thank the fans.
Often in life, you have moments when you are made to feel the world is rooting for you. Thank you for your love and support. Humbled.
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) October 12, 2016