'It was Yuvraj Singh who took us to the finals in 2007 and 2011'- Gambhir takes indirect dig at MS Dhoni for his PR

Gambhir also said India suffers from worshipping individuals instead of team.

Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir has said that while one individual, without naming MS Dhoni, is being hailed as the hero for India’s 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup wins, it was Yuvraj Singh who made it possible for the team to reach the finals in both events.

Gambhir was part of both the trophy-winning Indian sides and even scored 75 in T20 World Cup final and 97 in the 2011 World Cup final to contribute to the title win.

Yuvraj Singh, on the other hand, played two brilliant knocks in the T20 World Cup, a 12-ball fifty including the six sixes in six balls against England and a score of 70 against Australia in the semi-final.

Then in the 2011 World Cup, Yuvraj Singh, despite battling the then undiagnosed cancer, was the Player of the Tournament, scoring one century and picking one fifer in the tournament apart from valuable contributions.

“He (Yuvraj) always says I won the World Cup but I believe that the man who took us to the finals of the 2011 and 2007 World Cups was Yuvraj Singh, I think he was the man of the tournament in both tournaments,” Gambhir told News18.

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“I am not sure (though Yuvraj did win the award in 2011, Shahid Afridi was the Man of the Tournament in the 2007 T20 World Cup). But it’s unfortunate that when we talk about the 2007 and 2011 World Cups, we don’t take Yuvraj Singh’s name. Why not? It’s only and only marketing and PR and portraying one individual as the biggest and everyone else as smaller than him,” he said.

“No one is underrated, it’s all PR and marketing. We have been told who won us the 2007 and 2011 World Cups [but] it was not one individual it was the entire team. No one individual can win a big tournament. If that was the case, India would’ve had 5-10 World Cups,” he added.

Gambhir also said that India was not a team-obsessed country but rather a nation obsessed with individuals which is the reason behind the team not winning any ICC trophy for quite a while.

“A lot of people won’t say this but this is the truth and I think I should say this because it should come in front of the world: our country is not a team-obsessed country but an individual-obsessed country.

We consider individuals bigger than the team. In other countries, in England, Australia, and New Zealand, the team is bigger than the individual. All the stakeholders in Indian cricket, from the broadcaster and the media to everyone: of them have been reduced to a PR agency. If the broadcasters won’t give you the credit, you’ll always be underrated. This is the biggest truth. This is why we haven’t won an ICC tournament for so long because we are so obsessed with individuals,” he said.

Gambhir said this hero-worshipping dates back to 1983 to Kapil Dev when India won the World Cup for the first time.

“How many people talk about Mohinder Amarnath? Ask any of these people, how many times have they seen Mohinder Amarnath’s photo with the 1983 World Cup.

How was Mohinder Amarnath Ji’s performance in the World Cup? You’ve only seen Kapil Dev Ji lifting the trophy, right? Mohinder Amarnath Ji was the Man of the Match in the semi-final and the final. Did any one of you know that Mohinder Amarnath ji was the Man of the Match in the final? (The audience replies no) That’s the problem. To date only one photo is shown from the 1983 World Cup – Kapil Dev Ji lifting that trophy. Show Mohinder Amarnath ji as well sometimes!” he added.

(News18 inputs)