Gautam Gambhir’s childhood coach, Sanjay Bhardwaj, has taken a sly dig at MS Dhoni over his success as a captain. Dhoni is one of India’s most decorated captains.
Under his captaincy, India won the T20 World Cup, the ODI World Cup, as well as the Champions Trophy. He remains the only captain to win all three major ICC tournaments in the limited-overs format. Under Dhoni’s captaincy, India also achieved the number one ranking in Test cricket for the first time.
Dhoni’s captaincy journey began in 2007, and he led the team for almost a decade before handing over the reins to Virat Kohli in all formats in early 2017.
Gautam Gambhir’s coach targets MS Dhoni:
While MS Dhoni is widely regarded as one of India’s most successful captains, Sanjay Bhardwaj believes that the former India star would not have been able to achieve the success without the backing of former BCCI president N Srinivasan.
In a podcast, Bhardwaj said that, unlike Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir was not diplomatic and straightforward. Bhardwaj went as far as saying that MS Dhoni was like a son to Srinivasan and the latter’s support played a big role in his success.
“The biggest thing about Gautam Gambhir is that he was not diplomatic. It was MS Dhoni’s good fortune that he was like a son to Srinivasan. Nothing like that was there with Gambhir. The board president played a huge role in making Dhoni what he became,” said Bhardwaj.
“In any field, if your boss supports you, you will move forward. That did not happen with Gambhir,” he added.
Gambhir led KKR to 2 IPL titles as the captain
While Gambhir led India in a few matches, he was never handed the team’s captaincy permanently.
Gambhir proved his captaincy in the IPL by leading Kolkata Knight Riders to two titles. Incidentally, Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings to win their maiden title in 2012.
Gautam Gambhir’s India Head Coach Journey
At present, Gambhir is plying his trade as the head coach of Team India. He took charge of the team last year and has done well so far.
India won the Champions Trophy earlier this year and recently drew the Test series in England. India are currently playing in the Asia Cup and will be looking to clinch the trophy.