Stock photo of Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni
Time and again, former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir highlighted how “his cult” remains a problem in Indian cricket. Every time individual players get more credit for wins over teams, Gambhir shakes his head in disbelief, demanding that this trend stop. The cricketer-turned-politician had said that the credit for India’s ODI World Cup triumph in 2011 should be given to the entire team and not to an individual. The Gambhir vs Dhoni chatter on social media is back after former India coach Praveen Kumar shared his opinion on the subject.
“India needs to come out of this hero worship. Be it Indian cricket, politics, Delhi cricket. We need to stop hero worshiping. The only thing we need to worship is Indian cricket , or for that matter Delhi or India. Who created this? This was created by two things. First, by social media followers, which is probably the most false thing in this country. Second, by the media and broadcasters,” Gambhir had said.
Praveen Kumar echoed Gambhir’s comments, suggesting that cricket is not an individual sport like wrestling. Therefore, players like Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khanand Gautam Gambhir should get more credit for India’s moments of glory in the sport.
“Gautam bhai is absolutely right,” Praveen said in a interview.
“It is not wrestling or any other individual sport. One man cannot win you a match. Yuvraj Singh had taken 15 wickets, scored so many runs. Zaheer Khan took 21 wickets. Gautam Gambhir scored runs in the final of 2007 and 2011. Dhoni scored runs. ” in the final of 2011. A team wins only when at least three of its batters are fit and at least two bowlers take wickets. Be it a Test, ODI or T20I. A player cannot win your tournaments,” he said.
“The hero culture has always been there in Indian cricket. I think it has been there since the 1980s. It is a bad trend. Cricketers sometimes become bigger than cricket. He who benefits from the bigger brand support is more emphasized,” he added.
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