Gautam Gambhir has always been an intense character both on and off the field and the Kolkata Knight Riders captain is once again in the news following the comments he made about captaincy, senior players retiring, about India paying Pakistan and much more.

He is a straight forward character and says what he thinks and this attitude has helped him a lot over the year. He was always a talented player but he struggled in the initial period of his Test career. He lost his place and had to sweat it out in the domestic circuit to make a comeback. He has been a force since the time he came back into the side and is now one of the most dependable batsmen in the Indian side.

Gambhir is a man who just loves batting and he is proving it right now, it’s not even been two weeks since he led KKR to victory and he is back batting for ONGC.

Let’s discuss some of the points that Gambhir made with some inputs and contradictions.

Test captaincy is for the selectors to decide: There has been a lot of debate going on that whether India should make a change in their Test captaincy. It is not only that India have lost eight consecutive Test matches on the foreign soil, but it is the way they lost them. India looked a sub-standard team and was virtually outplayed in all the matches. The team looked down and out and it just went through the motion. A captain has a very crucial role to motivate and encourage the team and MS Dhoni totally failed to do that. It will be good if some pressure is taken off him and giving the captaincy to Gambhir can do exactly that.

Playing Pakistan is no different from playing Bangladesh: It is Gambhir’s opinion and we should respect him. But there will be hardly any other person who will agree with him. Playing Pakistan cannot be the same than playing Bangladesh or Australia and it’s not a cricket fan who believes that, it is also the cricketers from both the countries who have said it again and again. Playing Pakistan is something different. One can get the idea by comparing the team’s celebration after they defeated Pakistan in the World Cup semifinals and their win against Australia in the quarterfinals. The whole world is eager to see India take on Pakistan and the intensity in the match is incomparable.

Rahul Dravid’s retirement will not dent India in Test matches: This statement may draw the maximum attention. Dravid has been one of the best if not the best Test batsmen that India have produced. He has been consistent from the first Test match that he played against England in Lords in 1996 till the end of his career. He is arguably the best number three batsmen of all time and he will be badly missed in the team. One should not forget that he scored the maximum runs in 2011 and was the only Indian batsmen who stood his ground against England in England. He still has got the best technique and no batsmen in the current Indian squad looks good enough to fill his shoes. India will play their next few Test series in India, but when they will travel outside only then will they realize how important Dravid was for them.

By Indian Sports News Network