Gautam Gambhir had a lot of talent but he couldn't control his emotions and anger: Dilip Vengsarkar

Gautam Gambhir didn’t play much for India after the highs of the World Cup in 2011. His form deserted significantly post the mega event and in a space of 18-24 months, was dropped from the team thanks to Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma’s rise at the top of the order in the respective formats. Virender Sehwag also lost his place during this period and two of India’s very best openers were replaced and didn’t come back into the team later.

Rather Gambhir did play a couple of Tests in 2016. But he was always the reserved opener and was dropped after the preferred players returned. Eventually, the left-hander retired from the game in 2018 and entered politics. Gambhir played a total of 58 Tests, 147 ODIs and 37 T20Is for India and was the country’s hero in the two World Cups as well scoring vital runs when needed.

However, the former India cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar reckons that the Delhi batsman should’ve represented the country much more than he actually did. Vengsarkar was at the helm of the selection committee when Gautam Gambhir rose through the ranks to become India’s number 1 opener. But he feels that the latter couldn’t play more for his country as he couldn’t control his emotions.

He also called the southpaw underrated while expressing his views. “Underrated player. Had a lot of talent but couldn’t control his anger and emotions. I feel that for the kind of ability he had, he should have played much more for India,” Vengsarkar said while speaking to the Times of India.

Gautam Gambhir’s celebrated career

Gautam Gambhir is definitely India’s World Cup hero. He scored a crucial 75 off 54 deliveries in the final of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 against the arch-rivals Pakistan. And then played a match-winning knock of 97 runs against Sri Lanka in the title clash of the 2011 mega event.

As far as his career is concerned, Gambhir 4154 Test and 5238 ODI runs apart from amassing 932 runs in the shortest format of the game. Overall, he smacked 20 tons at the international level which also includes a double hundred in a Test in New Zealand.