Coming Of Age - Gautam Gambhir

After the successful Sachin Tendulkar-Saurav Ganguly record opening wicket era, there was a period when the Indian board had a tough time finding a regular opening pair for its One Day International (ODI) squad.

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The emergence of Virender Sehwag saw a new opening pair with Sachin, but, the niggles Sachin had been carrying for some time, forced the little master to be away from play and since his later movement to number four, India had been shuffling with a list of players for the top order slot. It was a similar state in test matches too. After the exit of Shiv Sunder Das and Aakash Chopra, the Indian board could not settle for an opening pair for its squad. Although one end was later taken by Sehwag, it was tough to find a proper combination for a stable opening pair. Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer seemed to be quite a success until the South African home series of March –April 2008. Jaffer looked fine in the first test match where he scored a half century, but, a string of bad scores thereafter, made the Board look for a new opening pair. All this was to change with the comeback of Gautam Gambhir, who virtually stormed into the squad grabbing the openers slot in the following Sri Lankan series and his sublime efforts making him now the number one choice for the opener's slot.

Gambhir was not a new comer, but, had found himself in and out of the playing eleven many times. Going back to the history pages, one would find themselves in the 2004-05 season, when a young Delhi opening batsman, was selected to bat alongside Virender Sehwag against the visiting Australians, a series which saw Aakash Chopra's bad run and middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh asked to bat at the top order with Sehwag. Although there was Jaffer, who batted well against the Australians in the tour match with the then Ranji Champions, Mumbai, yet Gambhir was given the chance, as he had been showing notable performance in various matches that he had played until then. Gambhir was not an instant success, but the following series against South Africa, proved his ability when he struck a brilliant 96. Gambhir continued the top form in the December 2004 series against Bangladesh, where he scored his maiden test century in the second test. The opening pair problem seemed to have sorted for the Indian team and for sometime Gambhir and Sehwag opened the innings in tests, but, the home series against Sri Lanka in late 2005 saw a dip in his form, where Gambhir managed to get a top score of 30 runs. The low performance in that series resulted in him being not selected for the January 2006, Pakistan series for the test matches. His name was listed in the Indian one day squad, but was not featured in the test squad thereafter. What followed in the ODI's was something any batsman dreaded, finding himself to be in and out of the teams' final eleven several times.

Forgotten for sometime, Gambhir was selected again for the Bangladesh series, where he scored a century in the second ODI. He was a regular in the ODI's, but, still not the team's first choice opening batsman. But, it was the ICC World Twenty20 world cup, in which he became the second top scorer that showed the world his potential as a quality opening batsman. A mid way slump after this rise and a shoulder injury kept him away from the Australia test series. Having known the difficulty of coming back to the side, Gambhir performed well in the domestic Ranji Trophy season that gave his state side, Delhi, the title triumph. This was a much stronger comeback and he was selected for the Australian CB series in which he topped the batsman list and his performance was one of the main reasons for the series success. Gambhir was selected to play for the Delhi Daredevils in the inaugural Indian Premium League Twenty20 championship, in which he again scored heavily and ended up as the second highest run getter of the championship. This heavy weight performance earned him a spot for the test matches in the July 2008 Sri Lanka series where he performed consistently, that finally gave him a regular opening pair slot in both ODI's and tests with his old partner Virender Sehwag on the other end.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy, 2008 edition brought the best in him when he scored a hundred against a quality opposition and continuing the brilliant form into the third test, he scored his first double hundred along with V.V.S Laxman who also scored a double century in the match.

Although, the series is still undecided, but if Gambhir continues his brilliant run in the top order, it could be another decisive series win for the Indians. Certainly, for an opener who was in and out many times from the final eleven, Gautam Gambhir has evolved as a much improved player, determined and striving for glory.