‘There’s a dearth of role models in current Indian team’: Gautam Gambhir

Agreeing with his former teammate and India’s 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh, former India opener Gautam Gambhir said there is indeed a dearth of role models in the current Indian side. Highlighting the fact that when he played Tam India had the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, and Anil Kumble, Gambhir said it is important to have senior players who can guide the youngsters through a rough patch.

“I agree with Yuvraj that there is a dearth of role models in the Indian team currently, like in the 2000s, we had Dravid, Kumble, Laxman, Sourav and Sachin to guide the team. It is important to have senior players around you who can help you when you’re going through a rough patch. Right now, I don’t think there are enough seniors in the Indian camp, who will set aside their self-interest to help youngsters,” Gambhir said on Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected.

Yuvraj had recently said there is not enough role models in the current Indian team besides Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, adding that the line of respect for seniors has become thin.

“The difference I find between the team of ours and now is during our time seniors were very disciplined. Social media was not there so no distraction also,” Yuvraj said, answering to India’s limited overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma’s question on what is the difference between the team he played with, winning 2007 T20 and the 2011 50-over World Cups, and the team now under Virat Kohli.

“We had to carry ourselves in a certain way. We used to look upto our seniors as how they are behaving, talking to the media and so on. They used to lead the way. I learnt a lot. That is what we learnt from them and tell you guys also,” said India’s 2011 World Cup man of the tournament, regarded as one of the best white-ball cricketers of all time.

“In this team, seniors are you (Rohit) and Virat (Kohli) who play all three formats. I just feel since social media has come, there are very less guys to look upto. That sense of respect for seniors…it has become a thin line,” said Yuvraj who called time on his illustrious career last year.

(With agency inputs)