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Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has been involved in a few on-field verbal altercations with star Indian batter Virat Kohli, the most recent instance appeared in the Indian Premier League 2023 during the clash between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Ekana Stadium. However, the 2007 T20 World Cup winner recently stated that his relationship with Kohli is the same as MS Dhoni, where the argument 'stays only on the field'.
After losing against New Zealand in 2021, Team India lost their second straight World Test Championship Final this time against Australia at The Oval. The cricketer-turned-politician, Gambhir took aim at the fans for India's downfall as they support individuals rather than the whole team.
During an interview with News 18, Gambhir said, "My relationship with MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are the same. If there is an argument between us, it stays only on the field, not off-field. There’s nothing personal. They want to win as much as I do."
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The 41-year-old called out the Indian fans for not supporting the whole team and being 'individual-obsessed'. Gambhir went on to lash out at the media and broadcasters, blaming them for supporting a few star players and leaving other players as underrated. He said, "Our country is not a team-obsessed one but rather an individual-obsessed one. We think of certain individuals to be bigger than the team. In other countries like England, New Zealand, and Australia the team is greater than any individual.
"And the stakeholders of Indian cricket, from broadcasters to media, have unfortunately been reduced to PR agencies. They’ll show just 3 people the whole day. If you have made a 50 and I have also made a 50, if you keep showing one person, everyone will think that he is the only star. The other person will be termed underrated."
Further, Gambhir claimed the 'obsession with individuals' is responsible for India's failure to win trophies in the ICC events. He added, "Who makes a player underrated? The broadcasters do, the experts do and social media does. If you talk about just one player’s performance, the other will be automatically underrated. Both have grafted equally but if one’s performance does not get credited, he/she will always remain underrated. This obsession with individuals is the reason why India have not won any major ICC trophy for a long time."