India have bowling attack to rattle Australia including Smith, Warner: Gambhir

Mumbai: Former India opener Gautam Gambhir believes that the Virat Kohli-led side has the bowling attack to rattle the Australian batting line up including Steve Smith and David Warner, who were serving ball-tampering bans in the previous series Down Under.

India is slated to tour Australia in November for a grueling four-Test series.

Read More ... India have bowling attack to rattle Australia including Smith, Warner: Gambhir

No cricketer in world is even close to Stokes: Gambhir

New Delhi: Nobody in world cricket is even close to England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who is “in his own league”, reckons former India opener Gautam Gambhir.

England’s World Cup hero Stokes has been in top form in the ongoing Test series against the West Indies. He scored a magnificent 176 to help England win the second Test.

Read More ... No cricketer in world is even close to Stokes: Gambhir

Dravid never got enough credit for captaincy, made bigger impact than anyone: Gambhir

Dravid never got enough credit for captaincy, made bigger impact than anyone: Gambhir

New Delhi: Former opener Gautam Gambhir feels that batting great Rahul Dravid is the country’s most “under-rated” ex-captain, who never got enough credit for his contribution to the game in India despite making an impact comparable to only Sachin Tendulkar.

Dravid captained India in 79 ODIs, winning 42 of them, which includes the world record of 14 successive wins while chasing. The 47-year-old also led India’s Test team to some impressive results in away series in West Indies, South Africa, Bangladesh, and England.

“It is so unfortunate that we do not give Rahul Dravid enough credit for his captaincy. We only talk about Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, now we talk about Virat Kohli, but Rahul Dravid has been a fabulous captain for India as well,” Gambhir said during Star Sports’ show ‘Cricket Connected’.

“Even his records, he’s probably the most under-rated cricketer and probably the most under-rated leader as well. We won in England, West Indies, we won some 14 or 15 games on the trot,” he said.

In his illustrious international career, Dravid amassed 13288 runs in 164 Tests and 10889 runs in 344 ODIs.

He was the head coach for the India under-19 and A teams from 2016 to 2019 and is currently the Director of Cricket Operations at National Cricket Academy, Bengaluru.

Gambhir, who was a part of both the 2007 and 2011 World Cup-winning Indian teams, said Dravid’s impact on Indian cricket was more than Ganguly and Tendulkar.

“For me, I think he has had a bigger impact. Sourav Ganguly has always had a bigger impact in white-ball cricket because of his flamboyance, but Rahul Dravid overall, in Indian cricket, had a much bigger impact than probably anyone,” he said.

“You can actually match his impact to someone like Sachin Tendulkar as well because he played under the shadows of Sachin Tendulkar all his life, but yes, impact wise, probably the same.”

Besides being a prolific batsman, Dravid also effected 85 dismissals in 73 matches as a wicketkeeper from 1999 to 2004. He also holds the world record for taking most catches as a non-wicketkeeper fielder in Test Cricket, having taken 210 catches from 164 matches.

“If you asked him to open the batting in Test cricket, he did, he batted at No. 3, he kept wickets for India, he batted as a finisher, he did everything what Indian cricket asked him or what a captain asked him to do and that is the kind of role models you want,” Gambhir said.

NZ should have been joint winners of 2019 World Cup: Gambhir

NZ should have been joint winners of 2019 World Cup: Gambhir

New Delhi: Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir feels New Zealand was the most consistent side in last year’s ICC ODI World Cup and deserved to be the joint winner of the tournament alongside England.

In the epic final at the Lord’s, New Zealand lost to hosts England on boundary count-back after scores were tied even after the super over.

“There should have been joint World Cup winners last time around. New Zealand should have gotten that tag of being world champions, but it was unfortunate,” the cricketer-turned-politician said on Star Sports’ show ‘Cricket Connected’.

The 38-year-old former India opener believes the Black Caps have been putting up impressive performances in the World Cups but have never got the credit they deserve.

“If you see their overall record, they have been very consistent. For the last one World Cup, and the World Cup before that, they were the runners-up and they have been very consistent.

“I think they have been very competitive in every condition they have played. We don’t give them enough credit,” Gambhir said.

Cricketers will have to live with dangers of COVID-19: Gambhir

Cricketers will have to live with dangers of COVID-19: Gambhir

New Delhi: Former India opener Gautam Gambhir doesn’t see major changes in the way cricket is played in the post-COVID-19 scenario besides the ban on using saliva on the ball.

The International Cricket Council is considering the legalization of the usage of artificial substances to shine the ball instead of saliva.

“I don’t think a lot of rules and regulations will be changed, you can probably have an alternate for the usage of saliva apart from that I don’t think so many changes will happen,” Gambhir told Star Sports.

“Players and everyone else need to live with this virus; probably they have to get used to it that there is a virus and that it will be around. Players might end up catching it, and you got to live with it,” he said.

Though social distancing is possible in cricket to a certain extent, other sports will find it tougher when sporting action resumes, said the southpaw.

“Social distancing and other rules may not be easy for any sport to maintain. You can still manage to do it with cricket, but how will you do it in football, hockey, and other sports as well. So, I think you just have to live with it, probably the sooner you accept it, the better it is,” Gambhir said.