'Is it that important?' - When Gautam Gambhir's wife refused tickets for 2011 World Cup final

Former Indian batter Gautam Gambhir was instrumental in India’s 2011 World Cup triumph. While the southpaw played some impressive knocks throughout the competition, his best was unleashed in the high-voltage final against Sri Lanka. Although Gambhir missed his century, his stellar 97-run knock helped India win the game by six wickets. While many fans in the stadium cheered Gambhir’s batting master class, his then-girlfriend and now-wife Natasha wasn’t one of them.

Gambhir recalled that Natasha had turned down his offer of free tickets for the 2011 World Cup final, which took place at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. She instead asked whether “the game is that much important.” Gambhir also revealed that his better half realized the gravity of the game only after seeing the entire nation celebrating the triumph. He added that Natasha still feels embarrassed about the incident.

My wife is still embarrassed about that incident: Gautam Gambhir  

“After we won the Mohali match (semi-final) against Pakistan and reached Mumbai, I asked her, ‘You want to come for the final?’. She said ‘Let me think’ and then called back and said ‘Is it that important? It’s just another game of cricket’. She said ‘Who’ll bother traveling to Mumbai, my sister and brother will come.’ So her sister and brother came and then after we won… she only realized when the entire country was celebrating,” said Gambhir on Jatin Sapru’s YouTube channel.

“She said ‘Why is the whole country celebrating?’ and I said we’ve won the World Cup after 20-odd years. Even if you ask her now she gets embarrassed about rejecting the offer for that game when her sister and brother were there,” he added.

Coming back to the encounter, Gambhir’s knock came at a much-needed time as India had lost both openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag cheaply in a chase of 275. However, Gautam joined forces with Virat Kohli and the duo brought the team out of trouble. The baton was then passed onto skipper MS Dhoni, who took his side over the line with a breathtaking 91 not out.