Gautam Gambhir, a former Indian opener batsman and a two-time World Cup winner, recently criticized the ‘hero-worship’ culture in Indian cricket and among Indian fans. Gambhir played a pivotal role in India’s spine-chilling victory at the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ICC World Cup.
In his recent conversation with the Indian Express in The Idea Exchange, The cricketer turned politician brutally slammed the ‘hero-worship’ culture and warned that the fans of Indian cricket, the media fraternity and the broadcasters should stop creating ‘monsters’ in the dressing room by idolizing one player from the team and ignoring the efforts of all the other players of the team.
As the conversation went ahead, the 40-year-old former Indian opener batsman mentioned that the ‘hero-worship ‘culture isn’t something new. It’s a concept that dates back to 1983 when India won the ODI World Cup at Lord’s.
The cricketer looked disappointed as he mentioned that the fans of Indian cricket end up lauding players like Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni and now, Virat Kohli, to such an extent that they often undervalue the efforts of other players in the team, the former cricketer considered it unfortunate.
Supporting his statement, Gambhir also gave an example of the India-Afghanistan Asia Cup clash, where Virat Kohli smashed a hundred on one hand and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 5 wickets in the same match, on the other hand. Gambir mentioned how Virat’s victorious hundred was celebrated by the entire nation, but no one even bothered to speak about Bhuvaneshwar’s efforts.
“This was so unfortunate. I was the only one, during that commentary stint, who said that. He bowled four overs and got five wickets and I don’t think anyone knows about that.” Gambhir added.
The former Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) skipper Gambir took a further dig at the ‘hero-worship’ culture that has been prevailing in Indian cricket since 1983 and said “Indian cricket today is being ruled by two to three stakeholders. That isn’t how it should be. Indian cricket should be ruled by 15 players sitting in the dressing room.”
