Gambhir, currently a Member of Parliament, is also part of the Star Sports commentary team. His frank and vocal views on cricket have been noticed across the arena, especially when it has to do with RCB players. Here are three of his most notable remarks involving these players:
1. On AB de Villiers’ IPL achievements
Recently, a poll conducted by Star Sports sparked a discussion amongst cricket enthusiasts and professionals alike regarding who the best IPL batters of all time were. A name that was frequently brought up was undoubtedly AB de Villiers. However, Gautam Gambhir, two-time league champion of the Kolkata Knight Riders, declared that the South African athlete’s accomplishments were individual achievements; Gambhir also suggested that de Villiers often took advantage of the batting-friendly environment at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
“AB de Villiers only had personal records in the IPL. Anybody could have scored runs in Chinnaswamy Stadium,” he said on Star Sports.
2. On the captaincy of Virat Kohli
Gautam Gambhir had harsh words for Virat Kohli before the 2019 IPL. Despite Kohli being at the helm of RCB for several years, they still needed to lift the trophy. The ex-Test player believed Kohli was blessed and should be grateful to RCB for keeping faith in him. “Still a long way to go. I don’t see him as a shrewd captain or a tactful captain as well. And he hasn’t won the IPL. So ultimately a captain is only as good as his record till the time you don’t win the IPL. Some people have won the trophy three times… there is MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma. So I think he has a long way to go,” Gambhir told Star Sports.
3. On RCB-KKR ‘rivalry’
Before the KKR-RCB game in 2020, Gautam Gambhir had declared no particular rivalry between the two teams since the Knight Riders had won the IPL title twice. However, after RCB’s victory with 8 wickets, fans jokingly mocked him for his pre-match statement. This only added to the social media trend of hilarious trolling against him, accompanied by a flood of memes.
