Top 3 innings by Gautam Gambhir which bailed India out of trouble
A cricketer's true character is determined by his performance when the team is in need. Aptly, Gautam Gambhir was a true team man, a stubborn cricketer whose presence instilled confidence within the side to achieve the impossible.
Gambhir bid adieu to all forms of cricket on December 4 2018, calling time on a career that has seen the former India opener achieve glorious highs across all formats for the country.
His career witnessed a lot of highs and lows, but it would be remembered mostly for the two most crucial innings, those that helped India become the world champions twice in a span of four years.
Gambhir himself called his innings in both the finals as "stuffs dreams are made of". In IPL, his role in the remarkable turnaround of fortunes for IPL franchise of Kolkata stamped his authority as a quality leader.
The beginning of a celebrated career
The Delhi opener started off his domestic career in 1999, scoring a bulk of runs for the Delhi Ranji side. With two back to back double hundreds in 2002, he made a strong case for himself in the national squad, something that was doing the rounds for long.
His appetite for heavy scoring did not remain unnoticed for too long and the southpaw made the debut for India in 2003 against Bangladesh. He got to his maiden century in ODIs in 2005 against Sri Lanka, scoring 103 off 97 deliveries. He made his Test debut in 2004 against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
At par with the greats
The Delhi opener, in the last decade and a half, played some extraordinary innings for the team that maybe were overshadowed by some other equally good performance. Here, we take a look at 3 innings of the former India opener that can arguably put him in the league of greats.
1. 137 (436) vs New Zealand, Napier - 2009
Gambhir was going through a purple patch during 2008-2009, scoring heavily across formats for India. During India's tour to New Zealand in 2009, India had dug themselves a hole in the second Test match when they were bundled out for a paltry 305 in reply to a New Zealand first innings score of 619.
India were asked to follow on and, wasn't expected by many to stand a chance with more than two days left in the game. The southpaw had other ideas though. At close of play on day 3, India lost Sehwag cheaply but Gambhir managed to stay on and fight.
He batted throughout the next two days, scoring 137 off 436, earning India a famous draw. In the process, he batted for 643 minutes in the two days, creating quite a few records en route the marathon knock.
Gambhir's marathon effort to save the Test match will always be regarded as one of India's finest individual performances overseas.