Eye on India: Country’s cricket success does not happen without Gautam Gambhir

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir, right, plays a shot against Gujarat Lions on Friday at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. Punit Paranjpe / AFP

Here is a quiz question that most would not be able to answer. Who was the most valuable player for India in their two world title wins of the past decade?

It was not Sachin Tendulkar, or MS Dhoni, or Yuvraj Singh. And Virat Kohli was still with the Under-19s when India won the World Twenty20 in 2007.

Gautam Gambhir has not played white-ball cricket for India in more than four years. When the squad to defend the Champions Trophy is announced in less than a month’s time, chances are that he, now 35, will not make the cut. But there would have been no world titles without him.

His 54-ball 75 in Johannesburg was nearly half India’s total (157) in that dramatic first World Twenty20 final. Less than four years later, at the Wankhede Stadium, it was his 97 (122 balls) that wrested back the momentum after Sri Lanka had dismissed both Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar cheaply in the 50-over World Cup final.

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Dhoni’s dazzling unbeaten 91, unforgettable winning six and all, dominates the highlights reels, but it was undoubtedly Gambhir that laid the platform for the victory charge.

These days, Gambhir garners attention mainly as captain of Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL champions in 2012 and 2014.

It was Gambhir that the franchise bought for a sizeable US$2.4 million (Dh8.8m) at the 2011 auction, after John Buchanan’s odd coaching methods – which included different captains for different games – had made them the league’s joke team.

It was Gambhir’s tenacity, allied with Trevor Bayliss’s coaching, that transformed Kolkata. Now firmly established as one of the leading sides, Gambhir will also be aware of how important this season might be for his chances of an India recall.

Three times (2008 with Delhi Daredevils, 2012 and 2016 with Kolkata), he has topped 500 runs in an Indian Premier League (IPL) season. And by starting the current one with a blistering 48-ball 76 in a10-wicket romp over Gujarat Lions on Friday, he has ensured that the selectors will have half an eye on his displays.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were the openers of choice at the 2013 Champions Trophy and the 2015 World Cup, but with one just returning from injury and the other out of favour, the door is ajar for others to force their way in. Gambhir, with his big-game nous, certainly should not be counted out.

The other, altogether more poignant, story of the opening week of the IPL has centred on another Delhi player who first caught the eye opening the batting for the Under-19s at the 2016 World Cup.

Rishabh Pant’s big hitting in Bangladesh caught the eye of the Delhi Daredevils, who paid 19 million Rupees (Dh1m) — 10 times his base price — for his services last season.

He made just 198 runs in 10 matches, but smacked a 40-ball 69 against the table-topping Gujarat to become the youngest half-centurion in the IPL.

A blockbuster Ranji Trophy season followed, with a triple-century and a 48-ball hundred illustrating his ability to dominate whatever the format.

Now, at 19 and seen by most as a long-term wicketkeeper-batsman prospect in the Dhoni mould, Pant faces the biggest test of his career.

On Wednesday night, his father passed away. Pant left his franchise and journeyed to Hardwar, on the banks of the Ganges, to perform the last rites.

By Friday night, he was back training in Bangalore, for last night’s game against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

With Rahul Dravid, who was also his Under-19 coach, as the Daredevils’ mentor, and Paddy Upton, once the Indian team’s man-manager extraordinaire, as the brain trust, Pant will find no shortage of compassion in the trying weeks that lie ahead.

Kohli, another Under-19 prodigy, was 18 when his father died. Within two years, he had made his debut for India.

Pant has already featured in a T20 international, against England in February, and the signs are encouraging already of a promising career in front of him.

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