Many years from now, long after Gautam Gambhir would have hung up his gloves, his 97-run knock that gave India a World Cup triumph after 28 years would be remembered as his single most greatest legacy. Many cricket greats would happily swap their years of toil and blood to have hit a match-winning knock on that night. But not Gambhir. For the southpaw, his journey from being India’s Most Valuable Player to a legend will begin on June 6 when India take on the West Indies — with him at the helm.
He has been named as captain in the absence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the Windies tour, and will lead a depleted side minus Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan among others. It will be a tough ask to overpower the West Indies on their home turf, a place where India has never done well. But his team-mates are confident of doing well under the new skipper.
“I have played under him before. He really motivates the players to give their 100 percent on the field and I think that’s his best quality,” says Virat Kohli. “He has a great temperament and in pressure situations, he always backs his bowlers and motivates the team to give their 100 per cent on the field. The kind of attitude, the kind of aggression he has in himself, he channels it to all the players as well.”
Apart from Virender Sehwag, Kohli has probably seen the most of Gambhir with both turning up for Delhi. But his leadership qualities have been lauded by everyone, especially after he made the IPL’s perennial underachievers Kolkata Knight Riders a success story this season.
“I have played either along or against Gambhir and what struck me first was his commitment,” says S. Badrinath. Adds R. Ashwin, “A fine motivator without doubt and one who has always been positive. Gambhir is an excellent team man and one who is always there when you need him.”
Vinay Kumar too says the same. “He’s a good captain with lot of ideas. He led the team during the New Zealand series very well. I’ve seen him giving lot of inputs to players, he motivates every player.”

Never-say-die attitude
Kohli, Badrinath, Ashwin form the next generation Indian team, and they unanimously feel that Gambhir just hates to lose, and he’ll do everything in his power to stage a comeback. “You could see it in him even when he was a kid. I remember he was 11 years old when I first started coaching him. The kids often played for fun after the tough training sessions were over, but even in those games, he never liked to lose,” says Gambhir’s coach Sanjay Bhardwaj. “He would hit the ball hard, bowl at full speed and dive like a maniac while fielding. He just hated losing.”

Better than Dhoni?
This is not the first time Gambhir is leading India. He was the captain when India beat New Zealand 5-0 in ODIs last year, a series win that showed selectors his true leadership potential. He’s very likely to be made a fulltime vice-captain ahead of a reluctant Sehwag. “When I returned to the team against the Kiwis last November Gautam was the captain and he did a great job. He gave me a lot of confidence and I benefited a lot by opening the batting with him and we had a great series together,” said Parthiv Patel.
But will he able to better Dhoni’s captaincy record — especially after the World Cup win?
“He's very aggressive and very different from the current captain. Dhoni might be cool and composed, but Gambhir is passionate, and he won’t accept defeat,” adds his coach. “If given an extended run, he can take the Indian team to a whole new level.”

(Inputs from sports bureau)