Former India cricketer and a two-time World Cup winner, Gautam Gambhir, is against the hero worship in the Indian team. Gambhir said this culture has been there since India won the 1983 World Cup under Kapil Dev’s captaincy. Fans have worshiped Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, and Kapil, and it disregards other players’ contributions.
Speaking to Indian Express in their show ‘Idea Exchange,’ Gambhir talked about his political approach before he shifted his focus to cricket when asked a follow-up question on brand-creation in the national team.
“Don’t create monsters in the team. Only monster should be Indian cricket, not a player.”
“Do you think the hero worship chokes the big player to come up? Nobody has grown in that shadow. It was MS Dhoni earlier, and now it is Virat Kohli,” he added.
Gambhir then spoke about the India-Afghanistan match in the Asia Cup 2022, where Virat Kohli scored 122, and the whole world celebrated while forgetting the five-wicket haul of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
“When Kohli got a 100, nobody talked about Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s five-wicket. This was so unfortunate. He got five wickets in four overs, but no one was bothered, but Virat’s hundred was celebrated everywhere. We have to stop worshipping heroes.”
It’s true Mr. Gautam Gambhir… But hero worship is there in the Indian DNA.. See the BJP government has done many good job in the country but people worship Modi only…