The Curious Case of Gautam Gambhir

The axing of Gambhir prior to the highly anticipated and much important home series against the Aussies comes as a rude shock to many. For someone who was anointed the ‘second wall’ of Indian batting, many feel his omission was unceremonious and rather uncalled for.

The classy southpaw, who took forever to cement his place in the Indian Cricket team owing to the batting line up being packed by to-be legends, had come to being one of the mainstays of Indian batting over the past few years. He, along with Virender Sehwag, forged one of the most destructive opening pairs in world cricket, considered at par with Hayden-Gilchrist and Sachin and Sehwag himself. He was also ranked the No.1 test batsman in the ICC rankings, and was also named the test player of the year for 2009. He also boasts of holding the records for scoring 5 centuries in as many test matches, and of having scored most fifties plus runs in 11 consecutive matches, a record that he shares with Sir Viv. His career is also dotted with some memorable innings: his 93 against South Africa in 2011 with a swollen arm, his double century against the Aussies at Delhi, and the epic, match-saving 137 against New Zealand, batting for more than 5 sessions and facing some 430 deliveries.

Of late, however, he has seemed out of sorts. Critics had begun sounding his death knell. His famed technique seemed too fragile. Lack of feet movement, transferring his weight too early on the back foot leading to edging the ball- he has been dismissed caught behind or in the slips way too often. Others sentence him guilty of grappling for the ball unnecessarily and playing away from the body. And the fact that he has not scored a test century in the last 3 years does not really help, the lack of 100’s also reflects in his performance over the past three years: between February 2010 and November 2011, he managed only 704 runs at 29.66, one of the worst averages for openers around the world in the same time frame.

Still, the timing of the decision to sack him seems to baffle many. Over the past few months, though still devoid of centuries, he seemed to be getting back to his old ways: he managed 451 at 41.83 in the home series against the English. Not too bad when compared with a few others in the team who managed to retain their spot.

Was he made the punching bag who was held responsible for the home series loss against the English? Or was his rumoured rift with MS Dhoni the probable cause for his ouster? We’ll never know.

For a player of his calibre, it is a matter of only one or two innings, one good score and the confidence starts seeping in, the feet start moving better, the old flamboyance resurrected. Maybe he can utilize this time to introspect, relegate himself to the domestic circuit for a season or two, and get himself going, as Harbhajan Singh just did. Since one opening slot is now up for grabs, and very limited specialist opening options available for the selectors to pick and choose from, maybe he will be back in the fray sooner than expected, clamour for which has already started. Maybe he will still manage to have the last laugh.