Gautam Gambhir, the former Indian opener, has recently recounted a momentous incident from his early days as a cricket player that became the foundation of his values and career growth.
In conversation on Ravichandran Ashwin’s YouTube channel, Gambhir explained how he failed to be selected for an Under-14 team because he refused to touch the feet of one of the selectors. This made him resolve never again to touch anybody’s feet.
“When I was growing up, when I was twelve, thirteen, my first under-14 tournament.I wasn’t taken because I didn’t touch the foot of the selector and from thereon, any person with whom I ever got in contact with them; it was my pledge never to touch someone’s foot. And no one ever touched my foot,” is what Gambhir said when explaining his decision which arose out of self-respect thereby influencing how he interacted during his career.
Gautam Gambhir has been serving as a mentor at Kolkata Knight Riders and he shared his experience about being stigmatized by society due to that particular perception. He also however stressed on his commitment for cricket instead of joining this bandwagon because it is what he loved doing and wanted to achieve in life.
“Every time whether it was Under-16, Under-19, Ranji Trophy or even initially in my international career whenever I would fail people would say that you come from a family where you don’t need to play cricket you can go join your dad’s business,” Gambhir said.
“The biggest perception which has always remained hanging over me amongst all other perceptions is something like that where people did not know that more than them i wanted it because i wanted to beat that perception.”
Gambhir emphasized such determination helped him work harder towards overcoming this stereotype and achieve more during his cricketing career.
“When I could overcome such thoughts then no other thought really bothered me anymore. The toughest thought in my career or in my life was to overcome that thought where many people thought that I never wanted it as much as they did and I wanted it even more than them,” he added.
In the IPL 2024, under Gambhir’s mentorship Kolkata Knight Riders topped scored 20 points from 14 matches during the league stage.
