Gautam Gambhir Height, Age, Wife, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Gautam Gambhir

• Gautam was born into an upper-middle-class family with a Punjabi background.

• He was just 18 days old when his maternal grandparents, Sat Pal Gulati and Asha Pal Gulati, adopted him from his parents, after which he spent his childhood in Karol Bagh, Delhi.
  

  Gautam Gambhir’s maternal grandparents

• He started playing cricket at the age of 10 and was part of his school’s team.

• In 2000, he enrolled himself at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
  

  Gautam Gambhir – National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru

• Cricketer Rajat Bhatia is his school friend, who was also the cricket team captain at his school.
  

  Gautam Gambhir in younger days

• He considers Bhagat Singh and Mother Teresa as his inspirations.

• Gambhir once said that he would have become a soldier if he had not become a cricketer.

• The opening pair of Gambhir and his friend cum teammate Virender Sehwag is counted amongst the most successful batting pair as they had scored their runs at more than 4.5 runs per over.

• He does not like to smoke.

• His favourite knock was against New Zealand in 2009 at Napier, where he scored 137 runs, in 643 minutes, in the 2nd innings, which helped India save the match.

• Gautam was India’s top scorer in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, with 227 runs, including the 75 runs knock in the finals against Pakistan. He was included in the ‘Team of the Tournament’ by ESPNcricinfo for his brilliant performances.

• It took Gautam Gambhir 4 years to score his second test century after he scored his first test century against Bangladesh at Chittagong in 2004.

• Gautam Gambhir scored  534 runs from 14 matches in his debut IPL season in 2008.

• In 2010, Gautam Gambhir was appointed as the captain of the Delhi Daredevils team in the IPL. He was the only player to score 1000 runs from Delhi Daredevils in the IPL that season.

• He played a pivotal role in the 2011 World Cup as he scored 97 runs against Sri Lanka in the World Cup finals.

• In 2011, Gautam Gambhir was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL auctions for Rs. 14.9 crores making him the highest-paid player of the tournament that season.

• Under his captaincy, India had won 6 out of 6 matches.

• He had a hair transplant in 2014.
  

  Gautam Gambhir before and after hair transplant

• In IPL 2017, Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn made a record opening stand of 184 runs while batting for Kolkata Knight Riders against Gujarat Lions.

• In 2017, he founded ‘The Gautam Gambhir Foundation’, which carries out many philanthropic activities, such as feeding poor people, carrying out the educational expenses of the children of martyred soldiers.
  

  Gautam Gambhir As A Volunteer

• Many people were shocked when Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) didn’t retain him in the 2018 IPL auction, after which Delhi Daredevils bought him. Later, it was revealed that before the auction, he requested the KKR management not to bid for him in the auction as he wanted to leave KKR for a different challenge.

• In the midway of IPL 11 in 2018, Shreyas Iyer replaced him as the skipper of ‘Delhi Daredevils’ after he stepped down due to his poor batting performance in the initial matches that led to series of loses for the team.
  

  Gautam Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer – Delhi Daredevils

• He is a Teetotaller.

• He is superstitious as he keeps his pads on till the end of every match.

• On 22 March 2019, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party with weeks to go for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. While joining the party, he said-
  

  I am impressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision… I have contributed to the field of cricket and now hope to do more for the country.”

  

  Gautam Gambhir Joining BJP

• In December 2021, Gautam took charge of Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL as their mentor.

• On 2 September 2023, a video of Gautam Gambhir went viral in which he was spotted making a rude gesture to cricket fans during the 2023 Asia Cup match between India and Pakistan. In the video, the crowd was heard chanting “Kohli, Kohli” as Gambhir left the field; Gambhir and Virat Kohli share a history of disagreements and it’s been extensively reported by the media. Gambhir, however, later addressed the matter in an interview and claimed that the video didn’t accurately show what happened. According to him, the crowd was actually chanting anti-India slogans, and his reaction was in response to these slogans. Gautam Gambhir, in the interview, said,
  

  If you raise anti-India slogans and speak about Kashmir, then the person before you will obviously react, and not smile and leave. There were two or three Pakistanis there who were making anti-India comments and comments on Kashmir. So, it was my natural reaction. I won’t hear anything against my country.”

  Later, the real video of the incident emerged on the internet, revealing that the audio in Gambhir’s initial video had been taken from a separate video from 2016. ^[1]India Today

Here Is REAL Video #GautamGambhir pic.twitter.com/klgDE2rsMi

— Narendra Modi Fan (@narendramodi177) September 4, 2023

• On 22 November 2023, Gautam was named as the ‘mentor’ of the team Kolkata Knight Riders.

I’m back. I’m hungry. I’m No.23. Ami KKR ❤️❤️ @KKRiders pic.twitter.com/KDRneHmzN4

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) November 22, 2023

• According to actor Payal Ghosh, Gautam Gambhir initially used to express his interest in her; however, she was already in a relationship with cricketer Irfan Pathan at that period. While making such a claim through a post on X, which she posted on 1 December 2023, Payal mentioned that Gautam, moreover, used to give her missed calls, which Irfan was aware of.

• Gautam Gambhir got engaged in a heated argument with cricketer S. Sreesanth during a Legends League Cricket match on 7 December 2023. After a clip from the altercation went viral on the internet, Sreesanth addressed the incident on social media and expressed his disappointment with Gambhir’s on-field behaviour. Sreesanth claimed that Gambhir had called him a “fixer” and continuously abused him, while he maintained a sarcastic smile. Sreesanth, moreover, mentioned that when the umpire attempted to intervene, Gambhir directed abusive language towards him as well. Gautam, on the other hand, later posted a picture of himself on X with the caption ‘Smile when the world is all about attention!’ ^[2]NDTV

Emotions are always running high, when you were very passionate about your game.

Sreesanth and Gambhir in an animated chat during the @llct20 Eliminator!#LegendsLeagueCricket pic.twitter.com/Qjz8LqC41l

— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) December 6, 2023

• On 2 March 2024, he took to X to announce his decision to quit the BJP and politics to focus on cricket.

I have requested Hon’ble Party President @JPNadda ji to relieve me of my political duties so that I can focus on my upcoming cricket commitments. I sincerely thank Hon’ble PM @narendramodi ji and Hon’ble HM @AmitShah ji for giving me the opportunity to serve the people. Jai Hind!

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) March 2, 2024

• On 26 May 2024, Gautam Gambhir as coach led the Kolkata Knight Riders to secure their 3rd Indian Premier League title. Earlier he won 2 Indian Premier League titles with the Kolkata Knight Riders team as their captain in 2012 and 2014.

• On 9 July 2024, BCCI appointed him team India’s head coach.