IPL 2024

‘I didn’t need to make plans for anyone else’ – Gautam Gambhir reveals captain who made life difficult for him in Indian T20 League

India have had many captains over the years in international cricket and in the Indian T20 league. One of the most successful captains in the Indian T20 League was Gautam Gambhir, who captained Kolkata in 2012 and 2014 and won two titles with the men in purple and gold. During his commentary stint in the Delhi Test, he was posed an interesting question by a co-commentator.

Gambhir was asked to name two players whose presence would have made the Kolkata squad unbeatable and Gambhir picked two players. He also mentioned the captain who troubled him the most in the Indian T20 League.

“The only captain who gave me sleepless nights was Rohit Sharma. I didn’t need to make plans for anyone else, nor did I think much about others. Yuvraj, I think, is India’s greatest white-ball cricketer, not just because of his player of the series performance in the World Cup, but because of his vast talent and ability,”

Gambhir said that he would have loved to have Rohit and Yuvraj at Kolkata in the Indian T20 League

Then he talked about two players that would have added a lot of fire to the Kolkata squad if they were in it and he picked Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh. He said if they were on the Kolkata side then the franchise would have won more trophies alongside their 2012 and 2014 triumphs in the Indian T20 League.

He said that the openers would be Gambhir and Rohit. Yuvraj would be slotted at 5 as the middle-order bat and would have added depth to Kolkata with his potent left-arm bowling as well. He said Uthappa would have batted at 3, Suryakumar Yadav at 4, Yusuf Pathan at 6 and Andre Russell at 7 which would have made Kolkata a very strong side.

Rohit has been the most successful captain in the Indian T20 League as he has won five titles for Mumbai. The next best is Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has lifted four titles with Chennai and then comes Gambhir with Kolkata. The 2023 edition of the Indian T20 league will be held in its traditional home and away format this year across 12 venues.