Is Gautam Gambhir targeting Virat Kohli or reigniting Hero Worshiping debate?

Former India opening batter Gautam Gambhir has once again ignited the ‘Hero Worshipping’ debate in Indian Cricket. The first time he spoke about the issue was last month in an interview and pointed out its history in Indian cricket. Now, ahead of the Super 12 round of the ongoing 20-20 World Cup 2022, the two-time World Cup winner has restarted the debate on ‘Hero Worshipping’.

Apparently, it all started when the left-hander was asked a question about Virat Kohli during an interview. To which, the MP from Delhi replied by urging the journalist to worship the Indian team rather than the individuals. He also pointed out Suryakumar Yadav’s performance in the last year and said the latter has been better than a lot of Indian team batters.

“Talk about Indian cricket. We should all be talking about the Indian team. We should stop hero worship. It shouldn’t be there at all, but it’s still prevelant because media transform these players into brands. Suryakumar Yadav’s performance, in the last one year, has been better than all those six batters. But you did not ask me a single question about him. It is because he does not have as many followers on social media compared to other players. Even you first took the name of Virat Kohli, not Suryakumar. May be, Rohit Sharma would be next, then KL Rahul. But based on performance, Suryakumar, and Hardik Pandya has been the best in the Indian team.),” he said in an interview with Zee.

Hero Worshipping is the reason India isn’t winning World Cups: Gautam Gambhir

Gambhir also blamed ‘Hero Worshipping’ for India not being able to win the World Cups after 2011. Apparently, India is yet to win any World Cup since that year although India won the Champions Trophy in 2013.

When the Indian team leaves for World Cup, then we should all stop this hero worship. Worship the team. In fact, this has been the main reason why India have not been able to win any ICC trophies between 2011 and 2022.” he added.