One of the architects of India’s 2011 ODI World Cup triumph, Gautam Gambhir never shies away from speaking his mind.
The former opening batter recently opened up on the conversation he had with senior players during the 2011 ODI World Cup semi-final, saying two-three seniors came and told him to win the coveted title to take "conversation away from 1983".
Notably, Team India won their maiden World Cup under Kapil Dev’s captaincy in 1983 and it took them 28 years more to clinch another ODI World Cup.
Gambhir added that he wanted to bring glory to India and make people happy rather than finishing anyone.
"Two or three senior players came to me and said 'we need to win this tournament because we have to take the conversation away from 1983. We have to finish their thing off',” Gambhir said while speaking on Indian Express's Idea Exchange.
He added: "I said I haven’t come here to finish anyone. I haven’t come here to shorten someone’s line. I want to win this to extend our line. If the media is giving them jobs from 1983 to 2011, that’s the media’s problem, not ours.
"We need to win the World Cup because we want this country to be happy. That is something which needs to change in the future," he further said.
India had beaten Pakistan by 29 runs in the 2011 World Cup semi-final to qualify for the final, where the MS Dhoni-led had defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets to lift the trophy.
Gambhir was the top scorer for India in the final, slamming 97 while chasing the stiff target of 275. Dhoni had also played a match-winning knock of 91 not out in the summit clash.
