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.

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“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 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.”

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) CEO Kasi Viswanathan said that veteran wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni is expected to feature in all matches during the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), while adding that the team management will take the final call on his exact role.

The 19th edition of the IPL is scheduled to begin on March 28, with franchises already starting their training camps in preparation for the tournament. Players who were part of the recently concluded ICC Men’s T20 World Cup are also set to join their respective teams soon.

With Dhoni set to represent CSK once again in IPL 2026, questions had been raised about whether the veteran would feature in all the games given his age. However, Kasi dismissed those concerns, saying, “He will play all the matches, according to me.”

When asked about the role Dhoni might take in the team, especially with another keeper-batter like Sanju Samson in the squad, Kasi said the decision would rest with the cricketing staff.

“That I cannot say. That is a cricketing decision which will be taken by the cricketing staff. Not by the administrative staff. So they will decide whether he is going to play as a batsman or as a wicketkeeper-batter, or as an impact player.”

The tournament schedule is expected to be announced soon, taking into account the electoral process set to take place in the country. Kasi confirmed that the five-time champions will play all their home games in Chennai.

“We are supposed to play only in Tamil Nadu only. So we are waiting for the schedule to be announced by the BCCI.”

Kasi also expressed his delight over India’s T20 World Cup triumph and praised CSK players Samson and Shivam Dube for their contributions during the campaign.

“We are very happy that India has won the World Cup, that too they’ve won it back-to-back. We are delighted because two of the CSK players, Sanju and Shivam Dube, have performed extremely well. It gives us a lot of confidence in the team doing well for CSK here also,” he said.

Speaking about the preparations at the training camp, Kasi added, “Practice is going on well, no problems so far.”