"One day my honesty will defend me": Gambhir on his "villainous" perception as coach by media

Gambhir, a former Indian batting stalwart known for his big-match performances in World Cups and now for his massive accomplishments and some lows as a coach, spoke to ANI after Men in Blue achieved their second major ICC title under his coaching and became the first team to defend the T20 WC at home.

Reacting to a viral Ravichandran Ashwin video in which he termed Gambhir as "one of the most misunderstood and selfless cricketers", Gambhir said, "It is a gift of media that someone needs to be made a hero and a villain in a story."

"This is also the gift of the media, no one else. Because every movie has a hero and a villain. So you have to make someone a villain. So why not me? Because the reality is, that you made a villain because the person (Gambhir) only talks about team support and team, and who says team is bigger than an individual. If you want to make him a villain, so be it. But the thing is, I am not going to go out there and ever defend myself. Because my honesty will one day defend me. But I am not going to go and say that I did this right and I did that wrong. That is not me," he said.

Gambhir also said that he cannot talk about whether he is misunderstood or not, but he can tell that he is "extremely honest"

"And I live my life a lot in black and white. And I do not think that there are a lot of grey areas in my life. I do not run that way," he signed off.

Over his tenure, Gambhir has often emerged as a target following a major series/tournament defeats, with many fans and media speculating him to be the mastermind of Test retirements of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin, three of the biggest Indian legends of this century.

With every ODI series coming up, rumours and speculations about his equation with senior, ODI-exclusive stalwarts 'Ro-Ko' also make for a lot of headlines. Following India's two home Test series whitewash defeats, a first-in-12-years at home to New Zealand last year and a loss to World Test Champions South Africa, several fans and some sections of the media advocated for a change in Test coaching personnel at least.

Speaking on team selection, something which has become a topic of either extreme praise or criticism within his tenure, Gambhir said that out of coach and selector, no one overpowers the other and "they are all in it together".

"Ultimately, whether it is the chairman selector, whether it is the selector, whether it is the head coach, the point is that Indian cricket needs to do well. And it is sometimes always good to have a difference of opinion. But when you finish that difference of opinion, when you come on the same page, that thing should be only in the best interest of cricket. And I am very fortunate that we had someone like Ajit Agarkar who has worked so honestly since he is there as a chairman selector. And most importantly, I think BCCI has given the selectors and the head coach the complete freedom to call the shots and take the right decisions, which is in the right interest for Indian cricket," he added.

Gambhir also said that he, as a player, would have loved playing under Gambhir, the coach, since for him, the most important thing is to make someone feel important. He also expressed his dislike for the idea of someone being called "underrated".

"To not talk about someone as an underrated player. You know, the biggest and worst thing in the cricket profession is when someone is called underrated, when someone is undershown, when someone is undervalued, and when someone is underappreciated. Because the players work very hard to represent India. They have to make a lot of sacrifices and the hard work is equal. But only if your social media following or your clicks or likes or dislikes or because of likes, you will be told more about your performance and the performance of others will be called underrated or undershown, undervalued or underappreciated, then you are betraying the entire team, and no one has any right to betray the entire team," he said.

He pointed out that for him, the runs scored by Shivam Dube down the order are as important as 321 runs scored by T20WC 'Player of the Tournament' Sanju Samson and the performance of young left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh is as important as that of superstar bowler Jasprit Bumrah.

"I will never differentiate. I will not say anyone's performance is underrated. I will not undervalue or underappreciate anyone's performance. Because I know how bad it feels when you work hard and you reach there and you deliver under that pressure and the media says that he is very underrated. Who makes players underrated? A player will not make himself underrated. A player will not undervalue himself. He will not underappreciate. He will not undershow. So this is the duty of all of us and the media. It is the duty of all of us that, for heaven's sake, in the future, do not call any player underrated. Because only 15 players play in a population of 140 crores," he said.

Gambhir further underlined that players should never be "undervalued, under-appreciated", saying that every player deserves to be shown equal appreciation.

The Indian Head Coach said, "How can they be underrated? How can you call someone underrated? How can you call someone's performance underrated? If you do not get the numbers, it is not the player's fault. If you do not get the numbers, then do something so that you get the numbers. But do not undervalue, under-show and under-appreciate the player. Because nothing is worse than that for the player. Yes, the player doesn't have the power to go out and say this. Because players are very insecure. But it becomes our responsibility as a nation that every player should get as much importance as other players get." (ANI)