Former India opener and IPL-winning captain Gautam Gambhir recently opened up on his experience as a captain. During his IPL career, Gambhir led Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals (then known as Delhi Daredevils) as well. He guided KKR to two IPL trophies in 2012 and 2014. However, he is currently working as KKR’s mentor, and they have become the first team to qualify for the Qualifier 1 match in the IPL 2024 playoffs as well.
Speaking exclusively with Sportskeeda on the Match Ki Baat show, Gautam Gambhir said: “Honestly, I have never received any captaincy tips from anyone. I understood how captaincy works from my own experiences. I don’t want to sound arrogant or berate anyone but I became the captain that I was only because of my experiences. The one thing that I learned during my captaincy tenure was the importance of dressing room atmosphere. It is a sacred place. You share so many things with your teammates in the dressing room. Just like a temple or a gurudwara is a sacred place, the dressing room is a sacred place for a player.”
“How much you respect the environment, how you do not leak any inside information from the dressing room, how you keep it a secure environment are the things that the matter the most. A secured dressing room is a happy dressing room,” Gambhir again shared.
During the same show, Gautam Gambhir also shared that the captains avoid attending IPL Auctions even when they are not busy playing
international cricket. In his view, 50% of the IPL is won at the auction table only, which is why the captains must put in extra effort for the
franchise during that period.
“Auction matters a lot in IPL. It is 50% of your job. If you are assembling a squad of 22 to 24 players, you need quality, not quantity because only a quality player can take the place of another quality player,” Gambhir explained.”One thing that I don’t understand is why don’t the captains attend the auctions if they are free. If you are the captain of your franchise and you aren’t playing international cricket at that time, then you should be part of the auction. Ultimately, you have to lead the team, you have to spend time with those players for the next 2-3 months,” he concluded.
