Gautam Gambhir is making the headlines yet again. In the India-Nepal game against Pallekele, he was spotted pointing the middle finger at the crowd amidst chants of Kohli Kohli. There was a lot of talk about the video when it made its way to social media, A lot of people copped flak towards Gambhir for the gesture but later the former Indian cricketer clarified on social media as to why he put out the gesture and what was the reason behind it.
Here is the video:
This is BJP MP Gautam Gambhir.
— Amock (@Politics_2022_) September 4, 2023
Today, in India v Nepal match he shown middle finger which is an offense.
People just chanted 'Dhoni.. Dhoni' & he got triggered.
BJP is full of people like him who can't even tolerate little banters.pic.twitter.com/zQYRSjMYkp
Here is what Gambhir said later:
Gambhir said "The crowd was shouting anti India slogs, as an indian, I can't take anyone saying this about my country hence reacted this way - what you see on social media isn't always the correct picture".
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) September 4, 2023pic.twitter.com/awruhKnwME
Gambhir shares exact reason for his obscene reaction towards the crowd
"The crowd was shouting against India and anti-Indian slogans. As an Indian, I can't take anyone saying this about my country and that's why I reacted. In social media, everything is not always correct". (On Middle finger video. Gambhir said in a video to Danik Jagaran. Gambhir has always called a spade a spade and he has no half-measures while giving his opinion. Gambhir also joined politics after he finished playing cricket. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India.
Gambhir also spends his time on commentary and does a lot of stints. For the last two seasons in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He has served as a mentor of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). The side has done well and has had two playoff finishes to show for it. Recently, Gambhir asked to be excused from mentoring duties in IPL 2024 as he had to devote his time and energy to the upcoming general elections in India.
There were some reports saying that Gambhir could also shift bases in IPL from LSG to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) but that was later proved false. Gambhir was also instrumental in bringing on Justin Langer as head coach of LSG ahead of the 2024 IPL season. Gambhir and Langer had worked together some years back. The Australian had helped Gambhir fine-tune his batting. Andy Flower who served as head coach of LSG for two seasons has now switched to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) head coach.