After two long years, Gautam Gambhir is all set to make a comeback to the Indian squad, confirmed BCCI on Tuesday. The Delhi opener was called up after KL Rahul’s hamstring injury ruled him out of the remainder of the Paytm Test series against New Zealand.
Gambhir last turned out for India in the Oval Test against England in August 2014. That series, too, was a comeback for him, as he was dropped in 2012 and missed all of India’s Tests in 2013 due to a sharp decline in form.
Two years on, we take a look at what Gambhir was doing while he was away from the Indian dressing room.
1. Spending Quality Time With His Daughter
Gambhir’s adorable daughter Aazeen was born in May 2014. Though the cricketer has kept busy with domestic cricket and the IPL, he also seemed to have spent some quality time with his daughter.
2. Visited His Alma Mater, Modern School
Gambhir donned the blue uniform after all those years, as he visited his alma mater Modern School, Barakhamba Road, on their annual sports day.
3. Got Into an Infamous Spat With Manoj Tiwary
Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary were involved in an ugly on-field altercation and nearly came to blows while playing for Delhi and Bengal, respectively, during the Ranji Trophy match in October 2015.
The incident happened when the Delhi players thought Tiwary was trying to waste time during the match, as he walked on the field wearing a cap and called for a helmet as a pacer was about to bowl.
Delhi bowler Manan Sharma ticked off Manoj and he told him to lay off. All of a sudden, Gambhir, at first slip, got into the action and started abusing the Bengal skipper, who then retaliated. Umpire K Srinath had to come between the two players as Gambhir moved towards Tiwary to hit him.
Following the incident, Gambhir was docked 70 percent of his match fee while his Bengal counterpart Manoj Tiwary copped a penalty of 40 percent.
4. Supporting Young Players, Promoting IJPL
Gautam Gambhir isn’t seen much in the endorsement space, however, the cricketer has been promoting the Indian Junior Players League, a 20-day T20 cricket tournament for boys under the age of 18.
Gambhir’s Gautam Gambhir Cricket Foundation associated with Grace India Sports Pvt Ltd to further the cause for the welfare of underprivileged children who can’t afford to follow their passion for the game.
5. Doing What He Does Best, Play Cricket
All of the above points put aside, it may not be in the blue jersey, but Gambhir was definitely focussing on what he does best, play cricket. The cricketer was training hard and performed reasonably well in the Indian Premier League, Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy but was somehow overlooked during the India team selection.
With four back-to-back half centuries Gambhir led India to the Duleep Trophy title this season. In the time between his last match against England in August 2014 and Duleep Trophy this year, Gambhir had scored a total of 1,224 runs in 18 matches.
He also led Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2015 and 2016 versions of the Indian Premier League. In 2015-16 Ranji Trophy, Gambhir scored 488 runs in 8 matches. He scored four 50s and his average was 37.53.
Now that we know what Gambhir has been upto in the past two years, we hope we get to see him play in the next match, and many more after that.
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