‘Bring Back Gautam’: Gautam Gambhir’s Fan Club Took a Strong Step to Bring Him Back in the Team.

At a nondescript centre where cricketers were playing a domestic game of Duleep Trophy game, a small group of teenage girls came to support their hero Gautam Gambhir.

Asmita, Aryanka, Surbhi and Priya did not just come to watch the match instead even in energy-sapping conditions, they were there to speak their mind and beat the heat, having one agenda, ‘Bring Back Gautam’.

These 18-year-olds came all the way to support their icon, even though Gautam Gambhir was out on Sunday but their firm decision to support Gautam didn’t deter.

They carried a 20-feet-long banner that read ‘Bring back Gautam’. Standing under the scorching afternoon sun, they made sure that their favourite cricketer gets enough encouragement.

Gautam played great innings in Duleep Trophy with 320 runs at an average of 80 per innings and a lot of students from Kamla Nehru College and Shivaji came to show solidarity with their hero.
It was learnt that Gautam Gambhir told ground staff to provide water bottles to the students who were standing in the searing heat, as ACU rules did not allow him to meet or interact unknown people during the match.

While the students were screaming, ‘Bring Back Gautam’, their lungs out to bring back Gautam in the team, their banner did capture the attention of national selectors Saba Karim and Vikram Rathour. The chief coach of Indian Cricket Team Anil Kumble was present there and he couldn’t avoid the banner and the slogans.

Smita, who was wearing KKR Jersey gifted by Gambhir himself, said that she and her friends run a Gambhir fan club and they want him back in the Indian team.

All these teenagers have seen Gautam’s prime in the phase between 2007 and 2011 and they must have been between 9-13 year old but it seems ‘ Once a fan, always a fan’, is true.

Avni S. Singh
12 Sep 2016