Support for Yuvraj Singh continued to grow on Tuesday as out-of-favour India opener Gautam Gambhir, who leads Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier league, said “had there been an IPl auction today, we would have still gone" for India’s “greatest match-winner”.
On Monday, Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh also asserted their support for the beleaguered Yuvraj, who came under severe criticism from fans after his 21-ball 11-run knock that sucked the momentum out of India’s innings in the World Twenty20 final against Sri lanka on Sunday and became of the reasons for team’s defeat.
"At the IPl auctions, we were really close to getting him before RCB won the bid. let me put it this way. Had there been an auction today, the Kolkata Knight Riders would have bid for him in the same aggressive manner. Yuvraj according to me is our greatest match-winner till date," Gambhir, who was the top-scorer in 2007 World T20 said.
Gambhir feels that the criticism has come from media and fans not from cricketers. "I don't think any cricketer has criticised Yuvraj. It is the media which has attacked him and we need to be careful about what we say. He has been our greatest match-winners in limited overs cricket," he said.
Asked if the team is becoming overtly dependent on Virat Kohli as it was with Sachin Tendulkar in the early 90's and Gambhir's answer was an emphatic no. "That's never the case. Cricket is a team game and 11 players are out there in the field. The game is won by 11 players and lost by 11 players. It's not an individual sport," he said with a lot of conviction.
But if one man scores 77 out of a total of 130, doesn't it reflect the over-dependence, Gambhir counter-questioned: "How many deliveries do you get in T20 cricketIJ 120 balls and not 300 deliveries! It is natural that your No 1, 2 and 3 will score more than your No 4, 5 and 6."
Talking about IPl, Gambhir was all praise for South African speedster Morne Morkel, terming him the "toughest bowler" he has faced in his international career. "Morne is the toughest fast bowler that I have faced. I have also played Dale Steyn, Brett lee and Shoaib Akhtar but Morne is the best I have faced. If he can bowl according to his potential, along with Sunil Narine, we do have a good chance," he said.
Since his international debut happened after India stopped playing at Sharjah, Gambhir is excited at the prospect of playing in UAE for the first time. "It's an exciting opportunity as I have never played in UAE before. Also we would be playing Mumbai Indians in the opening match which is a good thing than playing against them in Mumbai infront of packed crowd.
"It will be a match (IPl opener) where there will be no home advantage or away disadvantage. MI are defending champions and it will be great to get them off first up," he said.