Sandeep Patil, the former BCCI chairman of selectors, has revealed that Gautam Gambhir has not spoken to him since being dropped from the Indian team. Gambhir, who was a pivotal figure in Indian cricket between 2006 and 2012 and a member of the two World Cup-winning teams in 2007 and 2011, played his last international match in November 2016. However, his first real exit from the team came in 2013.
In his last 25 ODIs for India, Gambhir scored two centuries and six half-centuries – not bad by any stretch of the imagination – but the selectors thought otherwise and dropped him after the ODI series against England in 2013. Gambhir never played another limited-overs match for India. He featured only sporadically in Tests afterwards, playing two in England in 2014 and another two against New Zealand, but by then, his international career had effectively run its course.
Patil, speaking on the Vickey Lalwani show, said that while he and his panel took tough calls on the who’s who of Indian cricket – Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and even the great Sachin Tendulkar – Gambhir is the one who hasn’t moved on from the episode.
“When you are sitting in the chair of the selection committee, you are responsible for making some big calls. You’re not looking at your friendships/rapport with players. I’ve shared a good rapport with Sachin since he was 14. He has played under me, with me. Whenever I text him, he replies immediately. I met Yuvraj recently on the flight; very cordial. Even Virender Sehwag. They all talk to me nicely. Except Gambhir. He was very dear to me. Even today, I respect him a lot, but he is upset with me, and rightly so. Even I was upset with the selection committee when I got dropped. I scored a 100 in Pakistan, the highest at Kotla against England in both innings and got dropped. Never played Test cricket again,” Patil said.
‘Gambhir still upset’
Gambhir’s snub made way for Shikhar Dhawan, who made a stirring Test debut for India in Mohali against Australia, scoring a blistering 187. Alongside Rohit Sharma, Dhawan went on to form one of India’s most successful opening pairs in ODIs and T20Is, while Gambhir remained sidelined. He continued to play mainly for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL before returning to the Delhi Capitals, where he eventually finished his career and announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in 2018. It has been donkey years since Gambhir was dropped, but to Patil’s surprise, he still gets ignored whenever the two find themselves under the same roof.
“Gambhir is still upset. He has never spoken to me. We have come together on so many different shows. We’ve sat in the same room, but Gautam has never even looked at me. It’s fine. Every time I reached out to him or said a ‘Hi’, he has never responded. Not even a glance. But that’s fair enough,” added Gambhir.
“He was such a great guy. We played tennis together on tours; we’ve had such a great rapport. Gauti used to call me almost once every two weeks when I was removed as a coach. He is like that. Gautam was very serious about his career and remained focused on his batting and approach. No cricketer wants to leave the stage when you’re doing well. Nobody wants to get dropped. Laxman, Dravid quietly went away. Sehwag wanted to have a good celebration but didn’t get it. So I get it.”
