Gautam Gambhir, with all his verbal indignation and extreme nationalism, resorted to silence as a sense of uncertainty prevailed in India concerning one of its biggest T20 World Cup league matches against Pakistan. The high-voltage clash that was due to take place on February 15 also still lies in limbo, with the Pakistani government threatening to boycott the match to show its support for Bangladesh, which also brought about a lot of debate in the cricketing arena.
Gambhir, who has smoothly moved from playing career to politics and on to coaching, is experiencing the worst period of his coaching career as India looks forward to defending their T20 World Cup title. India will be under pressure as expectations are set high that they will already be the champions of the team in the tournaments in Asia and trophy boards.
Gambhir, who came to Mumbai in advance of the first warm-up match between India and South Africa, was approached by the media to give his response on the boycott action by Pakistan. But the Indian coach was adamant on the subject. On being asked about this, Gambhir refused to comment on it, waving off questions with a terse “Thanks,” meaning that he wanted to keep out of the row.
The ICC has been quoted to urge the Pakistan Cricket Board to reverse the ruling, yet the world has split its opinion on the same. Even though some are optimistic that the sporting decision may be overturned in the future, there are some who perceive that this might remain the course in politics that might affect the grandest sporting event in the competition.
Interestingly, Pakistan has seldom evaded confrontations that Gambhir has made in the past. Whether it is his scowl with Shahid Afridi in the 2007 bilateral series or his wordy argument with Kamran Akmal in the 2009 Asia Cup, or even as a reaction to hate-filled cries at the Asia Cup 2022, Gambhir has always kept his emotions very close to his heart.
Gambhir has also been an outspoken person in the recent months concerning on-field performances by India. After his home defeat against South Africa by a huge margin, he went online to say that his future was in the hands of the BCCI and even dragged the IPL franchise owner, Parth Jindal, into the fray.
At the moment, though, Gambhir seems to be only concerned with cricket as India are trying to win the World Cup again, with off-field confusion casting doubt over their victory.
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