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Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi never got along well with Gautam Gambhir, and in his book has termed the former India opener as someone with “no great records and just a lot of attitude”. In his autobiography Game Changer, Afridi has revealed that he was at least 19 — and probably 21 — when he struck a 37-ball century in 1996. All these years his records have said that he was only 16 then.
Afridi’s comments on Gambhir suggest that he has not matured much, despite being in his 45th year. Afridi launched a scathing attack on Gambhir, some of which termed out to be factually incorrect. “Some rivalries were personal, some professional. First the curious case of Gambhir. Oh poor Gautam. He & his attitude problem. He who has no personality. He who is barely a character in the great scheme of cricket. He who has no great records just a lot of attitude,” wrote Afridi.
Gambhir’s numbers
Gambhir played 58 Tests, 147 ODIs and 37 T20I, scoring more than 10,000 international runs across formats. Afridi played 398 ODIs for Pakistan with a lot of matches as an opener but his average despite 8,000-plus runs stands at less than 24, compared to Gambhir’s 39.68. In Tests, Gambhir has an average of 41.95, compared to Afridi’s 36.51.
In fact, Gambhir was the top-scorer with 75 against Pakistan in the 2007 World T20 final, which India won. He also top-scored for India in the 50-over World Cup final in 2011, with 97 runs. He retired from all forms of cricket in December last year.
Gambhir’s superior numbers than himself didn’t stop Afridi from taking a dig at him. “Gambhir behaves like he’s a cross between Don Bradman & James Bond. In Karachi, we call guys like him saryal (grumpy). It’s simple, I like happy, positive people. Doesn’t matter if they are aggressive or competitive, but you have to be positive & Gambhir wasn’t,” he wrote.
Afridi recollected the infamous heated exchange with Gambhir during an ODI, when they nearly came to blows. “I remember the run-in with Gambhir during the 2007 Asia Cup, when he completed his single while running straight into me. The umpires had to finish it off or I would have. Clearly we had a frank bilateral discussion about each other’s female relatives,” Afridi recalled the undignified verbal exchange.
For the record, the clash actually occurred during a bilateral series ODI, in Kanpur. Afridi was fined 95 percent of his match fee and Gambhir 65 percent.
