The melodious song of Gautam Gambhir

Amidst the electric and bass guitars, drums and the powerful musical instruments, there’s one instrument, which has been able to carve itself a place away from the clamour of the musical world. The flute may not be the most fascinating among them, something that can set the adrenaline on fire, yet has the aura to captivate its listeners. Can we say something similar about Gautam Gambhir?

Yes with a Capital ‘Y’, is there even a doubt!!!

What if the flute starts malfunctioning? Sounds of blows pass through it. Though it can be repaired, at one point in time, it surrenders to the pressure. The sound of Gambhir’s bat has been soothing to the ears, albeit it doesn’t make an intimidating noise when a Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers or even a Brendon McCullum weave their magic. Unfortunately, his supporters can listen to it only four more days.

Gambhir goes down fighting  

Winston Churchill once said, “If you’re going through hell, keep going. Never, never, never give up,”- his words have infused life into the gloomiest of souls, pervaded with insecurities, terror, fear of failure. Even as the sport ‘cricket’ is synonymous to motivation, it’s only until a certain point of time after which even the optimists contemplate throwing in the towel, and such is the nature of the game.

Sadly, the 37-year-old couldn’t hold on, maybe the bitter-sweet run unnerved him and caught him napping psychologically if not from the cricketing perspective. Mind you, it was the same Gambhir, who pulled Kolkata Knight Riders out of the pits and moulded them into a brute force when the franchise was still rummaging across for the meaning of victory, euphoria and most importantly, self-esteem.

Takes my mind to the Indian movie Black (2005) when Amitabh Bachchan turned a deaf, dumb and blind young girl, Rani Mukherjee, into a pure soul. Later, age caught up with him. He fell prey to Alzheimer’s, a disease that destroys a person’s memory, and Rani tries to take her ‘teacher’ down the memory lane. Gambhir’s case may not be as acute, but it’s not at all pleasing to see him capitulate this way.

The injured soul

It would’ve ripped apart his fans’ hearts when a bad patch of form led to his omission from the Delhi Capitals, then Daredevils. Only a few weeks ago before he was sidelined, the southpaw was speculated to act as their guiding light, a torchbearer after his fairytale run for the Knights. While many thought it was curtains for him, he came out firing on all cylinders and showed his class in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Gambhir dominated to such an extent that he went on to celebrate his 37th birthday with a century against Haryana in the quarter-final. He has also wielded the willow to churn out quick-fire knocks in the ongoing Ranji Trophy. In fact, discussions and analysis surrounding his next role in the Indian Premier League also did the rounds. He was seeming to find the missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of his career.

Nevertheless, were they enough to give his cricketing endeavour a new lease of life? Were they adequate to make him believe that ‘It’s not over Gauti’ just yet? They didn’t eventually! They were nothing, but ointment to the wretched soul, which was crying in pain. In many instances, the cuts heal, but the scars remain. Maybe, Gambhir was worried about getting his wounds sloshed wide open again.

The last rites

Never worry about Gambhir, he’s mentally stable enough to handle himself. The four-day period cited earlier is likely to end on December 9, the scheduled last day of the match between Delhi and Andhra Pradesh. It’s a Sunday and the ‘Sun’ is all set to set on his illustrious journey, which started in 1999. And it will end where it all started, Feroz Shah Kotla, the venue which marked the beginning of his career.

Emotions will flow when he walks out in whites for one last time, hoping to bow out on a high. It also won’t spring a surprise, if the commoners in Delhi beat the chilling weather early morning to book a seat for themselves on match-day and scream their lungs out for their favourite son. The encounter may not be shown on television, but everyone would want a telecast at least on the online streaming platforms.

As far as Gambhir’s marathon-like career is concerned, it’s no less than a heart-melting song, the lyrics, composition, tune and message of which can never turn monotonous even after listening to it innumerable times on repeat mode. The Delhiite doesn’t have Dhoni-esque, Kohli-esque or Tendulkar-esque numbers to boast of, but his legacy is here to stay, so what that he has hung his boots.

Here’s wishing Gautam a happy journey on his second-innings with his ‘strength’ Natasha- his better-half, Anaiza and Aazeen, his daughters, Ekta, his sister and moreover, his friends.

Most importantly, hope to see him ‘wearing his heart on his sleeve’.

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