Gautam Gambhir Reveals What “Some Seniors” Said About 1983 World Cup Heroes During 2011 World Cup Campaign | Cricket News

The 2011 World Cup win was a momentous occasion for Indian cricket. After the 1983 World Cup triumph, it was the first time that the Indian cricket team won the 50-over marquee ICC tournament. Gautam Gambhir played an important part in that victory. He was the second-highest scorer for India in the 2011 World Cup with a tally of 393 runs in nine matches. He scored four fifty-plus scores, with his highest – 97 – coming in the final against Sri Lanka. Gambhir top-scored for the MS Dhoni-led India in the final and helped the team chase down a 275-run target in 48.2 overs.

Gambhir has now revealed that ahead of India’s semi-final against Pakistan, few senior players told him that they “have to take the conversation away from 1983.” The players were referring to the exploits of the Kapil Dev-led Team India at the 1983 World Cup.

“Two or three senior players came to me and said ‘we need to win this tournament because we have to take the conversation away from 1983. We have to finish their thing off’,” Gambhir said in an interaction with The Indian Express.

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“I said I haven’t come here to finish anyone. I haven’t come here to shorten someone’s line. I want to win this to extend our line. If the media is giving them jobs from 1983 to 2011, that’s the media’s problem, not ours. We need to win the World Cup because we want this country to be happy. That is something which needs to change in the future.”

After retiring from international cricket in December, 2018, Gambhir entered politics and is a Lok Sabha MP. He is also part of Lucknow Supergiants’ support staff in the Indian Premier League.