"A secured dressing room is a happy dressing room"- Gautam Gambhir thinks captain should try his best to avoid any leaks [SK Match Ki Baat Exclusive]
Former IPL-winning captain Gautam Gambhir recently opened up on his experience as a skipper. During his IPL career, Gambhir captained Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals (then known as Delhi Daredevils).
He guided KKR to two trophies in 2012 and 2014. He is currently working as KKR's mentor, and they have become the first to qualify for the Qualifier 1 match in the IPL 2024 playoffs.
Speaking exclusively with Sportskeeda on the Match Ki Baat show, Gautam Gambhir disclosed if he ever received any captaincy tips from any player. He said:
"Honestly, I have never received any captaincy tips from anyone. I understood how captaincy works from my own experiences. I don't want to sound arrogant or berate anyone but I became the captain that I was only because of my experiences."
Next, Gambhir shared some of his learnings from his time as a captain and continued:
"The one thing that I learned during my captaincy tenure was the importance of dressing room atmosphere. It is a sacred place. You share so many things with your teammates in the dressing room. Just like a temple or a gurudwara is a sacred place, the dressing room is a sacred place for a player."
"How much you respect the environment, how you do not leak any inside information from the dressing room, how you keep it a secure environment are the things that the matter the most. A secured dressing room is a happy dressing room," Gambhir concluded.
"1 thing that I don't understand is why don't the captains attend the auctions if they are free"- Gautam Gambhir
During the same show, Gautam Gambhir pointed out that the captains avoid attending IPL Auctions even when they are not busy playing international cricket. In his view, 50% of the IPL is won at the auction table, which is why the captains must put in extra effort for the franchise during that period.
"Auction matters a lot in IPL. It is 50% of your job. If you are assembling a squad of 22 to 24 players, you need quality, not quantity because only a quality player can take the place of another quality player," Gambhir explained.
"One thing that I don't understand is why don't the captains attend the auctions if they are free. If you are the captain of your franchise and you aren't playing international cricket at that time, then you should be part of the auction. Ultimately, you have to lead the team, you have to spend time with those players for the next 2-3 months," he concluded.
Gautam Gambhir would attend auctions for KKR when he was the team's captain. Even former CSK skipper MS Dhoni would share his suggestions with the owners at the auction table. However, not all the other captains have shown interest in attending the auctions over the years.