"We were competitors to begin with. He wasn't a friend, to be honest" - Aakash Chopra opens up on his relationship with Gautam Gambhir
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra admitted that he and current Team India coach Gautam Gambhir were competitiors during their playing careers in the 2000s. Playing for a strong Delhi side, the duo often battled for one spot at the top of the order.
Even for India, Chopra opened the batting in Tests with Virender Sehwag from 2003 to 2004 before Gambhir replaced him.
Speaking on a YouTube podcast with Raj Shamani, Chopra opened up about Gambhir as quoted by Hindustan Times:
"We were competitors to begin with. He wasn't a friend, to be honest. (But he was a) very passionate guy, very hard working, and very serious about his craft. And he scored a lot of runs. But he always wore his heart on the sleeve, was extremely passionate, and could short-fuse very quickly in terms of temperament."
He added:
"We are competitors because we were fighting for one place. Our team was very good. When we were playing, only one of Kohli and Dhawan got the chance to play. The team was like that. In fact, there was no place for even Viru to open the batting. Viru batted four so that we can accommodate one of Shikhar and Virat at 3."
While Chopra played only 10 Tests for India, Gambhir enjoyed a more decorated international career. The southpaw scored over 10,000 runs across formats and was an integral part of the Indian 2007 T20 and 2011 ODI World Cup winning sides.
"He's a good hearted guy, comes from a very affluent family" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra hailed Gautam Gambhir for his unwavering passion towards the game despite coming from an affluent family.
Gambhir was appointed Team India head coach recently and completed his first assignment in their white-ball tour of Sri Lanka. While the Men in Blue won the T20Is 3-0, they suffered a 0-2 defeat in the ODIs.
"He's a good hearted guy, comes from a very affluent family. For that kid to have that kind of passion... he would be at the ground the whole day. He was born with a golden spoon, not even silver. It's a different journey, basically like Abhinav Bindra. Gautam has the heart at the right place," said Chopra.
Gambhir's first home assignment will be the upcoming two-match Test series against Bangladesh, starting in Chennai on September 19.