Gautam Gambhir is a man of few words. Be it on the field or off it, the out of favour Team India opener lets his deeds do the talking.
His aggressive nature and the ability to bounce back from the brink are often talked about in cricketing circles. While some attribute it to his nature, others put it down to his desire to win at any cost Gambhir doesn’t even like to be beaten at a Playstation game!
Ask the 32-year old and he lets us in on a very interesting facet of his life. The one that dates back to the days of Partition.
“Look, I come from a family that migrated from the Pakistan side of undivided India,” says Gambhir. “My grandfather and his brothers had seen some tough times during Partition. I am told that my grandfather fought 12-14 miscreants alone at the time. I have heard similar stories from both sides of my family. After the families moved to a divided India, they had to start from scratch. My father is a self-made man, so is my maternal grandfather and my maternal uncle. Having grown up in this environment, I have developed as a fighter in whatever I do. The values that I inherited from my family made me a go-getter. You can say I am survivor,” he says candidly.
Survivor he is, and the six comebacks into the national team since his debut in 2003 are proof enough. So, does he still break cricket bats like he did after being dropped from the 2007 World Cup team?
“I think with age and experience, you handle stress and failure better and that is what happened to me. In 2007, the setback was immense. But being young, I failed to look at the bigger picture which was that I was still playing this sport, albeit not at the international level. This time when I was dropped, I told myself that it is not at the level that one plays, what is important is that one is still playing. It may seem pompous and untrue, but I really don’t play for comebacks,” he adds.
Unlike his hard driven on-field personality, though, there is a completely different side to the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper. A reserved guy by his own admission, Gambhir likes to watch movies, spends endless hours on his Playstation, loves pizzas and believe it or not, can gossip for hours!
But these times are reserved only for people he is close to and who he shares a comfort level with. “Either I am comfortable or I cannot spend a minute with the other person,” he often says.
“I love to be with family and a few friends. I spend a lot of time on my Playstation playing football, although I get beaten most of the times by my younger cousins. I can do that for hours,” he says.
But all that might change soon, given that the southpaw has new duties he recently became a father of a baby girl. “I think now most of my time will be for her,” he says adding, “I cannot cook. The only thing I can do is get water boiled, so I guess I am safe when it comes to warming some milk for my little one!” says the doting father.
When not playing cricket, Gambhir likes to spend time at home. “Away from the field I am a normal, steady guy. I like going for a movie, having a South Indian meal at Sagar Ratna at the Ashoka Hotel, or hot chocolate fudge from Baskin Robbins,” he says, adding, “Some days, I want to be really lazy and sleep between meals. I have my mood swings, but these are all when I’m in my inner circle of family and friends. Otherwise, I am quite a reserved guy.”
For his success and outlook in life, he has two special ladies to credit his maternal grandmother and mother. “They are the two treasures of my life, although grandmom passed away last year. It was the worst day of my life. I am living on her blessings.”
