'It was MS Dhoni earlier, it's Virat Kohli now'- Gautam Gambhir lashes out at media and 'fake' social media followers for hero-worship

Two-time World Cup-winner Gautam Gambhir has criticised the ‘hero worship’ prevalent in the Indian cricketing world by not just fans but the media as well. Speaking at the ‘Idea Exchange’ show of India Express, the former India batter said, “Do you think that this whole hero worship chokes the next star to come up? Nobody has grown in that shadow. It was Mahendra Singh Dhoni earlier, it is Virat Kohli now.”

Gambhir used Kohli’s 71st-century celebration as an example for his comments. He said, “When Kohli got a 100 and there was this young guy from a small town of Meerut <Bhuvneshwar Kumar>, who also managed to get five wickets, no one even bothered to speak about him. This was so unfortunate. I was the only one, during that commentary stint, who said that. He bowled four overs and got five wickets and I don’t think anyone knows about that. But Kohli scores a 100 and there are celebrations everywhere in this country. India needs to come out of this hero worship.”

“Whether it’s Indian cricket, whether it’s politics, whether it’s Delhi cricket. We have to stop worshipping heroes. The only thing that we need to worship is Indian cricket, or for that matter Delhi or India.” The Padma Shri awardee cited two reasons for this, “First by social media followers, which is probably the fakest thing in this country.”

“Second, by the media and the broadcasters. If you keep talking about one person day in and day out, it eventually becomes a brand. That is how it was in 1983. Why start from Dhoni? It started in 1983. When India won the first World Cup, it was all about Kapil Dev. When we won in 2007 and 2011, it was Dhoni. Who created that? None of the players did. Nor did the Indian Cricket Board. Have the news channels and broadcasters ever spoken about Indian cricket? Have we ever spoken that Indian cricket needs to flourish?"

"There are more than two or three people who are stakeholders of Indian cricket. They don’t rule Indian cricket, they should not be ruling Indian cricket. Indian cricket should be ruled by the 15 people sitting in that dressing room. Everyone has a contribution to make … … I’ve never been able to follow anyone in my life. And that has been my biggest problem. The media and the broadcasters create a brand, no one else creates a brand," said Gautam Gambhir as he ended his long rant.