Feuds in sports are common. The very nature of sports relies on competition between and among the sportspersons. It isn’t unnatural to hear about two or more sportspeople engaged in banter, both on and off the field. Sometimes though, these rivalries take up an ugly face, which isn’t what competition is all about. The concept of sportsmanship and teamwork is put at a severe risk when two people in the team are not on good terms with each other. The best of us have had such days, and so did the Indian team’s star players MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir. Apparently the two megastars have had a rift between them for quite some time.
It is said that the problem started when MS Dhoni took upon the mantle of Team India’s captaincy. As a comparatively junior player playing among behemoths like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and Sourav Ganguly among others, it was expected that he would merely be a puppet in the hands of the senior players. But MS Dhoni turned out to be one of the best, most strategically brilliant captains India or even the world had ever seen. Under Dhoni’s captaincy, the men in blue won all the major ICC trophies including the T20 World Cup, ODI World Cup, Champions Trophy, etc. He was also appointed the captain of the IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings.
Everything was going well until MS Dhoni decided to take things up a notch and turn India into a fielding-concentrated team. This led to him making a very tough decision, which was to back the junior, fitter, and flexible players against the senior and more experienced but slower players. His logic was that the younger players were faster between the wickets and on the grounds, which gave them an advantage over the senior ones. This led to the unceremonious removal of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir from the team being prepared for the 2015 World Cup. Even Tendulkar was dropped.
Gautam Gambhir has often subtly and indirectly blamed Dhoni for the end of his career. Recently he has denied various rumors about him and Dhoni falling out badly on the basis that if Dhoni was ever in any problem, he(Gautam) would be the first one by his side, and that their feud was purely related to the game, while both enjoying a healthy personal relationship. Gambhir’s remarks though haven’t really reflected his statements. He even claimed to have had the potential to break all the records had he been promoted to number three. The former opener was also said to have a feud with Virat Kohli, with some sources claiming it was because of Dhoni and Kohli’s closeness.
