Gautam Gambhir cannot understand why there’s an immense sense of nostalgia around India’s 2011 World Cup conquest. Gambhir was among the chief architects of that momentous victory against Sri Lanka, which completes 10 years on Friday.
On April 2, 2011, at the Wankhede in Mumbai, Gambhir scored 97 and that set the platform for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to finish the game with a memorable six.
“It doesn’t feel like yesterday. Not for me at least. It’s been what, 10 years now? I am not a person who looks back too much. Obviously, it’s a proud moment but you know what, it’s time for Indian cricket to move forward. Probably, now it’s time that we win the next World Cup as soon as possible,” Gambhir, now a BJP MP, said.
But how can one be so dispassionate about the best day of his cricketing career? “That’s how I am,” he said.
Gambhir feels fans shouldn’t go overboard about past World Cup wins because the players who competed were meant to give it their best shot and they did so as their professional duty.
“In 2011, we didn’t do anything that we weren’t meant to do,” said Gambhir. “There were no such emotion as far as I was concerned. We didn’t do anything extraordinary. Yes we made the country proud, people were happy. It’s time to move on to the next World Cup,” he said.
Gambhir feels “looking backwards” might be a reason that India have had such limited success at marquee events despite a steady stream of world-class cricketers.
“Probably, India would have been considered a superpower in world cricket if we had won the 2015 or the 2019 World Cup. It’s been 10 years and we haven’t won another World Cup.
“That’s why I never say ‘oh this is a special achievement.’ If I got 97, I was supposed to get those runs. Zaheer Khan’s job was to pick wickets. What we did on April 2, we didn’t do anyone any favour.
“I don’t understand, why people just keep going back to get that high of 1983 or 2011,” Gambhir said.